Editing Marc Dutroux (section)

== Allegations of wider involvement ==
Belief in a paedophile network which included high-ranking members of the Belgian establishment and a conspiracy to keep it hidden became widespread in Belgium.<ref name="telegraphcover">{{cite web |last1=Helm |first1=Toby |title=Belgium accused of cover-up in Dutroux inquiry |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/1337761/Belgium-accused-of-cover-up-in-Dutroux-inquiry.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170830231255/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/1337761/Belgium-accused-of-cover-up-in-Dutroux-inquiry.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 August 2017 |website=telegraph.co.uk |publisher=telegraph |access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref> Press reports claimed that, prior to his removal, Connerotte was on the verge of publicly disclosing the names of high-level government officials who had been recognized on video-tapes.<ref name="nyt" /> Connerotte had said that the businessman [[Michel Nihoul]] was the brains behind the child kidnapping operation, and would testify in the trial that there had been high-level murder plots to stop his investigation.<ref name="telegraphmurder" /><ref name="guardian" /> Investigators also believed that Dutroux and Nihoul were planning on a long-distance prostitution trafficking network involving cars and the import of girls from Slovakia, though no evidence of this was ever uncovered.<ref name="bbc" /><ref name="kriminalistika">{{cite web |title=Marc Dutroux |url=http://kriminalistika.eu/muzeumzla/dutroux/dutroux.html |website=kriminalistika.eu |publisher=kriminalistika |access-date=9 November 2019 |archive-date=24 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191124235255/http://kriminalistika.eu/muzeumzla/dutroux/dutroux.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Dutroux and his fellow accused supported the conspiracy narrative. Michel Lelièvre, the accomplice of Marc Dutroux, said that the two girls, Lejeune and Russo, were kidnapped as an order by a third party. However, while under arrest, Lelièvre stopped cooperating with the authorities.<ref name="guardian" /> He told police that he had been threatened and could not risk saying any more.<ref name="bbc">{{cite web |last1=Frenkiel |first1=Olenka |title=Dutroux and the network|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/correspondent_europe/1962263.stm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130914202108/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/correspondent_europe/1962263.stm |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 September 2013 |website=washingtonpost.com |publisher=BBC |access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref> Dutroux's lawyer, Xavier Magnee, said during the trial proceedings "I speak not only as a lawyer, but also as a citizen and father. He was not the only devil. Out of the 6000 hair samples that were found in the basement cellar where some of the victims were held, 25 "unknown" DNA profiles were discovered. There were people in that cellar that are not now accused." The prosecution never attempted to match those DNA profiles to people implicated in the case.<ref name="independentpolicehelp">{{cite web |last1=Castle|first1=Stephen|title=Dutroux says he abducted girls with police help|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dutroux-says-he-abducted-girls-with-police-help-730764.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170412182915/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dutroux-says-he-abducted-girls-with-police-help-730764.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 April 2017|website=independent |access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref>

Focus was also placed on the material wealth of Dutroux, who owned ten houses. He was in total worth 6 million [[Belgian franc]]s ([[US$]]130,000).<ref name="nytimesbook" /> While he had all of this wealth in property he also received public assistance of $1,200 a month. Documents released by [[WikiLeaks]] show that large sums of money in different currencies arrived in Michelle Martin's bank account, and claimed to be linked in time to the disappearances of the abducted girls.<ref name="washingtonpost" /> Both the transfers and the value of the six properties that Dutroux owned suggested to investigators that he was financed by a larger paedophile and prostitution ring.<ref name="nytimesbook" /> The Flemish newspaper ''[[Nieuwsblad]]'' reported that he had committed health-insurance fund fraud, theft, insurance fraud and investments on the stock market and that these had contributed to his wealth.<ref name="nieuwsblad">{{cite web |title=Dutroux had zijn lesje geleerd |url=https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/hno19022004_049 |website=nieuwsblad.be |date=13 February 2004 |publisher=Nieuwsblad |access-date=9 November 2019 |archive-date=9 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109172527/https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/hno19022004_049 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="britannica">{{cite web |last1=Jenkins |first1=John Philip |title=Marc Dutroux |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marc-Dutroux |website=britannica.com |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=9 November 2019 |archive-date=2 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702145010/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marc-Dutroux |url-status=live }}</ref>

An undated letter was found in a house belonging to Bernard Weinstein, mentioning a gift for the "high priestress". The note was signed "Anubis". A member of the Abraxas cult in [[Charleroi]] used the same alias, leading police to conduct a raid on the cult headquarters by 150 officers, taking away much of the cult's paraphernalia.<ref name="irishtimes">{{cite web |last1=LOVELL |first1=JEREMY |title=Police raid centre of satanic sect |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/police-raid-centre-of-satanic-sect-1.118865 |website=irishtimes.com |publisher=irish times |access-date=1 November 2019 |archive-date=7 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407175626/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/police-raid-centre-of-satanic-sect-1.118865 |url-status=live }}</ref> No connection to Dutroux was uncovered in the raid, and no evidence that Weinstein had been a satanist or connected to the cult emerged. Stories of human sacrifices and trafficking by the cult were likewise never substantiated.<ref name="nieuwsblad2">{{cite news |title=De satanisten van Abrasax |url=https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/hno19022004_004 |newspaper=Nieuwsblad |date=2 February 2004 |access-date=14 May 2023 |archive-date=14 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514050748/https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/hno19022004_004 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Much attention was given to the so-called X-files, interviews with witnesses who had answered judge Connerotte's appeal to come forward. Witness X1, [[Regina Louf|Régina Louf]], told of parties organised by Nihoul that included forced prostitution and murder. She also claimed to have been present at several unsolved murders of girls in the 1980s, and pointed to Dutroux and Nihoul as culprits. The interviews were led by officer De Baets, who came under criticism for leading the witness. In one case, Louf pointing out the wrong photo of a murder victim was noted as a correct identification, since Louf had exhibited a "non-verbal" reaction to the correct photo. Another identified victim was later determined to have been killed by an unrelated individual.<ref name="nieuwsblad3">{{cite news |title=X1: ''Onmogelijk, onwaarschijnlijk, oncontroleerbaar'' |url=https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/hno19022004_029 |newspaper=Nieuwsblad |date=5 February 2004 |access-date=14 May 2023 |archive-date=14 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514100510/https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/hno19022004_029 |url-status=live }}</ref> De Baets and his team were removed from the case, and the prosecutors dismissed Louf's statements. In 1997, De Baets was charged with falsifying the statements of Louf, but was exonerated from the charges in 1999.<ref name="nytimesbook" />

Other X witnesses recounted instances where children were chased through the woods with Dobermans, or told of gatherings that involved sex orgies with minors, torture and murder with a [[Secretary General of NATO|secretary general of NATO]] present.<ref name="nytimesbook" />

Three journalists later wrote a book called ''The X-Files: What Belgium Was Not Supposed to Know About the Dutroux Affair'', that claimed that the X witnesses were much more believable than stated by the media. But it also stated that there had been substantial efforts by the magistrates and senior police officials to demolish the testimony of the X-witnesses.<ref name="nytimesbook">{{cite web |last1=James |first1=Barry |title=Belgium Pedophilia Scandal /Did Authorities Cover Up Its Scope?: Book Revives Fear of Grand Conspiracy |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/16/news/belgium-pedophilia-scandal-did-authorities-cover-up-its-scope-book.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170414214607/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/16/news/belgium-pedophilia-scandal-did-authorities-cover-up-its-scope-book.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 April 2017 |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref>

Journalist Olenka Frenkiel claims that more than 20 potential witnesses in the case have died in mysterious circumstances. Frenkiel cites Bruno Tagliaferro as an example, who was found dead after claiming to have knowledge of the abduction vehicle used by Dutroux. Though Tagliaferro's cause of death was ruled as a heart attack, American analysts later determined that he had been poisoned. Frenkiel's article alleges that Tagliaferro's wife, Fabienne Jaupart, who was determined to find her husband's killer, was reportedly found dead as well after her mattress had been set on fire.<ref name="Frenkiel">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview|title=Belgium's silent heart of darkness|last=Frenkiel|first=Olenka|date=5 May 2002|website=The Guardian|access-date=19 November 2018|archive-date=31 August 2017|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170831221935/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview|url-status=live}}</ref>