BRUSELS – The lawyer for suspected child murderer Marc Dutroux has called on the jury at his client’s trial to refuse to reach a verdict.

Speaking to jurors at the trial in the Belgian city of Arlon lawyer Xavier Magnee argued on Tuesday that the case presented to the jurors was not fit to be judged.

He said Jacques Langlois, the investigating magistrate who brought the case against Dutroux and his three co-defendants, had not done his job properly.

The lawyer argued that the magistrate should have followed up a ole series of leads that would have shown that Dutroux was only a small player in a major paedophile network.

“These are very real lines of enquiry which exist and were not followed up,” Magnee said.

Dutroux’s lawyer argued that the failure to investigate these leads meant that the case the jury was being asked to reach a verdict on was incomplete and not fit to be judged.

Magnee listed a number of examples to back up his argument.

He said samples of blood and hair had been found in a secret cell in Dutroux’s house that did not belong to any of the six girl’s his client is charged with kidnapping and holding prisoner there.

The lawyer also said evidence that Dutroux was linked to a major organised crime network in his home city of Charleroi had also not been investigated.

Magnee’s comments formed part of his summing up in the Dutroux case.

The jury is set to retire to consider its verdict on 14 June.

[Copyright Expatica 2004]

Subject: Belgian news