Brabant killer gang

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Nivelles in the province of Walloon Brabant

The killer gang of Brabant ( Dutch Bende van Nijvel , French Les Tueurs du Brabant ) is a group responsible for a series of robberies that took place between 1982 and 1985, mainly in the Belgian province of Brabant, killing 28 and injuring over 20 is made. Nivelles is a city in the province of Walloon Brabant and was considered the geographical center of these crimes. The group's crimes, along with the Dutroux case , are considered to be the most sensational of the Belgian post-war period.

The group carried out the armed raids on restaurants, jewelers, retailers, supermarkets and a weapons depot with almost military precision. In their robberies, the perpetrators proceeded with the utmost ruthlessness and cold-bloodedness, and in doing so they also randomly shot uninvolved passers-by or customers, including a nine-year-old child who was waiting in a car outside the supermarket in the last big attack in Aalst in 1985.

The series of acts of violence upset the whole of Belgium for several years. Some of the weapons used in the murders were stolen from a police weapon depot. The perpetrators wore masks during their attacks.

According to eyewitnesses, the Brabant killer gang consisted of three main perpetrators, who appeared in various constellations as leaders of every crime, and a large number of alternating other perpetrators. The three leaders were the giant ( "le Géant" , de reus - so called because of his height), the killer ( "le Tueur" , de killer - this killed 23 of a total of 28 victims) and the so-called old because of his age Man ( «le Vieux» , de oudere man ). The identity and whereabouts of the murderers are so far unknown.

Possible motives

The unusual professionalism and brutality in the execution of the crimes resulted in several theories about the background of the crimes being spread among the Belgian public. Although these have now largely been refuted, they reappear regularly in public discussion.

conspiracy theories

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The Brabant murder series has been repeatedly linked to a conspiracy within the Belgian stay-behind organization SDRA8 . This acted camouflaged within the military intelligence service Algemene Dienst Inlichting en Veiligheid (ADIV), the Belgian gendarmerie SDRA6 and in cooperation with the US intelligence service Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

An investigation by the Belgian parliament found no solid evidence that Gladio was involved or that criminal groups had infiltrated the stay-behind network. The investigative commission's investigations in this regard were massively hindered by the heads of several Belgian secret services who refused to hand over lists of names from the SDRA8 to the commission of inquiry, thereby unlawfully disregarding the explicit instructions of the Belgian Defense Minister and the Minister of Justice.

Pink ballets

Another theory is based on the so-called pink ballets (Dutch: Roze ballets ; French: les ballets roses ; also DOSSIER PINON ). The term describes alleged sex parties at which sexual intercourse between underage boys and girls and several well-known members of Belgian high society is said to have occurred repeatedly . Nobles, high officials, politicians, ministers, industrialists and police officers are said to have participated.

The real estate tycoon Jacques Fourez and his secretary Elise Dewit, who were both murdered by the killer gang on September 17, 1983, are said to have been central figures in these Pink Ballets and, according to this opinion, to have had secret video recordings of these parties. The Brabant murders of Jacques van Camp (October 2, 1983) and Léon Finné (September 27, 1985), as well as the murder of Constantin Angelou, were also repeatedly associated with such events.

Organized crime

This theory was related to the illegal arms trade , which was an activity of the Mafia in the 1980s . The banker Léon Finné , murdered by the killer gang in Overijse , was a key figure in such speculation because of his involvement in such transactions.

Criminal offenses

Type of crime attributed to the Brabant killer gang
Chronology of crimes linked to the group
date place target Victim
August 14, 1982 Eye of the mouth Attack on grocery store 1 injured person
9/30/1982 Wavre Attack on gun shop 1 dead, 3 injured
Hoeilaart Shots at members of the Brigade de Surveillance & de Recherche of the Belgian Rijkswacht 2 injured
December 23, 1982 Brussels Attack on the Chevaliers Hotel 1 dead
9.1.1983 Mons Attack on a taxi driver 1 dead
February 25, 1983 Uccle Attack on a supermarket ( Delhaize ) 1 injured person
3.3.1983 Hall Attack on grocery store ( Colruyt ) 1 dead, 1 injured
10.9.1983 Temse Attack on textile business 1 dead, 1 injured
September 17, 1983 Nivelles Attack on grocery store (Colruyt) 3 dead, 1 injured
Braine-l'Alleud Gun battle with the police 1 injured person
October 2, 1983 Ohain Attack on a restaurant 1 dead
October 7, 1983 Beersel Attack on a supermarket (Delhaize) 1 dead, 3 injured
1.12.1983 Anderlues Attack on a jewelry store 2 dead
September 27, 1985 Braine-l'Alleud Attack on a supermarket (Delhaize) 3 dead, 2 injured
Overijse Attack on a supermarket (Delhaize) 5 dead, 1 injured
November 9, 1985 Aalst Attack on a supermarket (Delhaize) 8 dead, 9 injured
total 28 dead, 26 injured

The investigators suspect that the attacks suddenly stopped because one of the perpetrators could have been shot by the police after an attack in Aalst on November 9, 1985 and did not survive. Because of this thesis, the police were still excavating in the Braine-le-Comte forest twenty years after the events.

A commission that began investigating the incidents as early as 1983 and terminated them after three months was reassigned in 1985 to investigate the cases.

The alleged gang member Bruno Vandeuren was shot shortly before he was questioned.

Developments since 2004

The police reopened the investigation in 2004 after guns, precious stones and clothing were found in the Bois de la Houssière forest . It was the same forest in which the three main suspects were last identified in 1985.

After an anonymous tip-off, the investigators searched the same wooded area unsuccessfully in 2005, assuming they would find the buried body of one of the three leaders there.

In January 2012, Eddy Vos, the lead investigator, requested a transfer to another service. Shortly afterwards, the police organized 21 house searches; no one was arrested.

In May 2013, Eddy Vos filed a complaint against unknown persons for death threats; the police took the report seriously.

In July 2013, the Justice Commission of the Chamber of Deputies discussed the investigation. Under Belgian law, the crimes would be statute-barred on November 10, 2015 and no further prosecution would have been possible. The Belgian parliament then extended the limitation period until 2025.

On October 21, 2017, reports increased that the leader of the gang, the giant, had been exposed. The brother of the former and now deceased police officer Christiaan B. from Aalst said in an interview that he had confessed on his deathbed to have been a member of the gang. Other witness reports coincide with this statement. The police officer Christiaan B. resembles a phantom image that was widespread in the 1990s. He is also said to have almost always been free in the second wave of gang activities when the gang committed their deeds - he is also said to have hobbled (at least temporarily). This report has been rated as credible by many experts and the media. Politicians and the judiciary have also put the case back on their agenda and pushed the investigations forward. In April 2018, investigators completed their investigations and concluded that Christiaan B. was not the giant.

In January 2020, a DNA analysis was ordered for several hundred suspicious people in order to compare them with evidence found at crime scenes.

On June 17, 2020, Belgian police released a photo from 1982 showing an unidentified man with a gun in a forest. The photo and the person depicted on it were described by the police as a “decisive lead” in the criminal case.

literature

  • Dirk Barrez: Het onderzoek, een bende. Over het onderzoek naar de Bende van Nijvel . Standaard, Antwerp 1996
  • Raf Sauvillier and Jan Willems: De bende van Nijvel. Tien jaar blunders van het just . Icarus, Antwerp 1995

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 'Crazy Brabant Killers': Brussels murder mystery 'clue'. BBC News, October 24, 2017, accessed June 18, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Belgian Senate (French / Dutch; PDF file; 28.29 MB)
  3. ^ Daniele Ganser: Terrorism in Western Europe: An Approach to NATO's Secret Stay-Behind Armies. ( Memento of March 2, 2007 on the Internet Archive ) In: The Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations , South Orange NJ, 2005, Vol. 6, 1, p. 85
  4. ↑ cf. DER SPIEGEL 43/1996 Pink Ballet-Who is the clientele of child molester Marc Dutroux? The tracks lead to the best of circles. , online at Rosa Ballett-Who is the clientele of child molester Marc Dutroux? The tracks lead to the best of circles. , spiegel.de, October 21, 1996
  5. ↑ http://www.rtl.nl/(/actueel/rtlnieuws/buitenland/articleview/)/components/actueel/rtlnieuws/2008/02_februari/17/buitenland/0217_1530_seksfilmpje_bende_van_nijvel.xml
  6. ↑ a b Alleged assassinations in Belgian recent history ( memento of November 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), operation-gladio.net
  7. ^ Belgian Chamber of Deputies : Enquête parlementaire sur les adaptations nécessaires en matière d'organisation et de fonctionnement de l'appareil policier et judiciaire, en fonction des difficultés surgies lors de l'enquête sur “les tueurs du Brabant”. Report fait au nom de la commission d'enquête par MM. Renaat Landuyt and Jean-Jacques Viseur. Brussels, 14 October 1997, pp. 21-22. ( PDF )
  8. ↑ Irre Murderers - In addition to the "Fighting Communist Cells", apolitical bandits are now also killing , spiegel.de, November 18, 1985
  9. ↑ " Eddy Vos stops met speuren naar Bende van Nijvel ", DeRedactie.be, January 18, 2012.
  10. ↑ Dirk Barrez: " Het onderzoek: een bende - 30 jaar onkunde en onwil in het onderzoek naar de Bende van Nijvel ", DeWereldMorgen.be , February 12, 2012.
  11. ↑ " Tueurs du Brabant: un des enquêteurs a été menacé de mort " SudInfo.be , May 21, 2013.
  12. ↑ " Tueurs du Brabant: un enquêteur menacé de mort " Le Vis , May 22, 2013.
  13. ↑ " Tueurs du Brabant: la guerre des enquêteurs fait rage ", RTBF.be, May 21, 2013.
  14. ↑ Commission de la Justice du mercredi 3 July 2013 / Commissie voor de Justitie van woensdag 3 July 2013 ".
  15. ↑ " Tueurs du Brabant: le cdH réclame l'allongement du délai de prescription ", Le Vif , May 16, 2014.
  16. ↑ " Tueurs du Brabant - Annemie Turtelboom partisan d'une adaptation du délai de prescription après les élections " Le Vif , May 17, 2014.
  17. ↑ Wahoub Fayoumi: " Délai de prescription: 10 ans de plus pour éclaircir les tueries du Brabant? ", RTBF.be, May 8, 2015.
  18. ↑ " Verjaringstermijn Bende van Nijvel Verlengd " De Morgen , August 23, 2015.
  19. ↑ Who were the "killers of Brabant"? 4 November 2018
  20. ↑ " Wat weten we tot nu toe over de man die" De Reus "zou kunnen zijn? ", VRT News , October 22, 2017.
  21. ↑ Murder series in Belgium: reference to deathbed could reveal killer from Brabant In: Spiegel online from October 25, 2017
  22. ↑ Speurders Bende van Nijvel zijn 99 procent zeker: "Chris B. is toch niet de Reus". HLN, April 26, 2018, accessed June 18, 2020 (Dutch).
  23. ↑ Tobias Santens: Honderden DNA-stalen opgevraagd in onderzoek naar Bende van Nijvel. VRT News, January 8, 2020, accessed June 18, 2020 (Dutch).
  24. ↑ Photo 'vital lead' in hunt for Belgium's supermarket killers. BBC News, June 17, 2020, accessed June 17, 2020 .