BRUSSELS – Childkiller Marc Dutroux and his estranged wife Michelle Martin have lodged appeals against their convictions at a court in Arlon.

The couple who shocked the public by their involvement in heinous crimes against children in the 1990s claim they were the victims of an unfair trial, it was reported on Thursday.

Both say they were denied a presumption of innocence by the large amount of media attention the story attracted and by extensive parliamentary debates on the issue.

Meanwhile, Michel Lelievre, also charged over the affair, has taken his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

He is protesting the excessive length of time he was detained before his case came to trial.

The Belgian judge at the Strasbourg court, Francoise Tulkens, has removed herself from the case.

Meanwhile according to reports in La Meuse newspaper, the entire Dutroux affair has now been declared closed.

After the convictions of Dutroux and his accomplices, a file was kept open to deal with the unresolved aspects of the trial such as the possible existence of paedophile networks in Belgium.

But the newspaper claims the Liege court looking at the dossier has ruled there is nothing more to discover about the sordid case.

[Copyright Expatica 2004]

Subject: Belgian news