Editing Marc Dutroux (section)

== Errors during investigation ==
Heavy criticism was levelled against the police for their handling of the case. In 1995, Dutroux's mother wrote a letter to the authorities stating that she knew that Dutroux had kidnapped two girls and was keeping them at his house.<ref name="britannica" /> After Lejeune and Russo were kidnapped in June 1995, it took police 14 months to arrest Dutroux, although he had been a prime suspect from the start, having committed similar crimes before.<ref name="guardian">{{cite web |last1=Frenkiel |first1=Olenka |title=Belgium's silent heart of darkness |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170831221935/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview |url-status=dead |archive-date=31 August 2017 |website=guardian.co.uk |publisher=the guardian |access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref> During the search for Lejeune and Russo, police visited Dutroux's house, where Lejeune and Russo were held, twice, on 13 and 19 December 1995 without finding them.<ref name="guardian" /> During the course of the searches, girls' voices were heard while searching the cellar, but police did not follow up to find the source of the voices.<ref name="guardian" /> Detectives accepted Dutroux's claim that the ongoing construction in his house was for a new drainage system, rather than for the new cells he was creating.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://time.com/archive/6930050/police-incompetence-aided-sex-ring/ | title=Police Incompetence Aided Sex Ring | date=15 April 1997 }}</ref> Several videotapes found during the search were never looked at.<ref name="dhnet" /> Some of them showed Dutroux constructing the dungeon in which Lejeune and Russo were held.<ref name="guardian" /> Michel Bourlet, who was appointed lead investigator, said that some of the videotapes had disappeared and that he wanted to have them all recovered and reviewed.<ref name="dhnet" /> The officer conducting the search was later promoted.<ref name="dhnet">{{cite web |title=Procès Dutroux: Michaux à la barre |url=http://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/proces-dutroux-michaux-a-la-barre-51b7cadbe4b0de6db98e7359 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170414013606/http://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/proces-dutroux-michaux-a-la-barre-51b7cadbe4b0de6db98e7359 |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 April 2017 |website=dhnet.be |access-date=9 November 2019}}</ref>

In October 1996, judge Jean-Marc Connerotte was removed from the investigation by the Supreme Court due to concerns about his impartiality after he attended a fund-raising dinner for the victims' families.<ref name="IND" /> Another judge, Jean-Claude Van Espen, resigned after his close relationship with Michel Nihoul came to light.<ref name="guardian" />

On 23 April 1998,<ref name = BBC /> Dutroux was allowed to view his case files. He was accompanied by two police officers. When one officer went on a break, Dutroux overpowered the other officer and was able to escape. He was captured a few hours later.<ref name="telegraphcover" /> The Minister of Justice, [[Stefaan De Clerck]], the Minister of the Interior, [[Johan Vande Lanotte]], and the police chief resigned as a result. In 2000, Dutroux received a five-year sentence for threatening a police officer during his escape. In 2002, he received another five-year sentence for unrelated crimes.<ref name=murder />

There were countless hairs found in the dungeon where the two girls were held. Judge Langlois refused to have them tested for DNA evidence even though the leading police investigator, Michel Bourlet, had begged him to have them analyzed in order to know whether more people besides Dutroux were involved.<ref name="guardian" /> The general prosecutor of the case, Anne Thily told investigative journalist Olenka Frenkiel that all hairs had been tested, though Frenkiel claimed to have heard from sources saying otherwise, writing, "How can such a senior figure lie so brazenly?"<ref name="guardian" />

At least seven members of law enforcement were arrested on suspicion of having ties to Marc Dutroux. One of them was Georges Zico, a police detective believed to be an associate of Dutroux.<ref name="independent">{{cite web |last1=Brace |first1=Matthew |title=Detective held in Belgian abuse case |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/detective-held-in-belgian-abuse-case-1311569.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170413044628/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/detective-held-in-belgian-abuse-case-1311569.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 April 2017 |website=independent |access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref> According to prosecutor Michel Bourlet, Zico was charged with truck theft, document forgery and insurance fraud.<ref name="independent" />

Eventually several families of victims boycotted the official trial, stating that it was a circus and there had been no progress in the case since the removal of judge Connerotte.<ref name="telegraphmurder">{{cite web |last1=Evans-Pritchard |first1=Ambrose |title=Judge tells of murder plots to block Dutroux investigation |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/1456107/Judge-tells-of-murder-plots-to-block-Dutroux-investigation.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170407010947/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/1456107/Judge-tells-of-murder-plots-to-block-Dutroux-investigation.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 April 2017 |website=telegraph.co.uk |publisher=telegraph |access-date=9 November 2019}}</ref>

The investigation was also complicated by rivalry between different law enforcement bodies. Both the [[Gendarmerie (Belgium)|Gendarmerie]] and the Judicial Police carried out their own investigations, and both groups wanted to be the first to solve the case. In particular, the Gendarmerie refused to share tip-offs and information with the Judicial Police: most notably one from an informer that named Dutroux as a suspect and even described a hidden space that Dutroux had constructed in the basement of one of the houses he owned.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.brusselstimes.com/181344/the-dutroux-case-and-how-it-changed-belgium | title=The Dutroux case, and how it changed Belgium }}</ref>

=== Statements by Senator Anne-Marie Lizin ===
Belgian Senator [[Anne-Marie Lizin]] commented on the case, saying: "Stupidity (by the police) can't be the only explanation. It's a question of stupidity, incompetence and corruption. Dutroux must be a friend of somebody important. Or else he was being protected because he was known to be a police informant." Lizin said Dutroux was not a true pedophile, as he has been portrayed. He had a record of dealing in stolen cars, selling arms to hoodlums and trafficking in prostitution. ''"''When he discovered that men paid a lot more for little girls for prostitution, he started kidnapping them'',"'' she said. When Dutroux finally was arrested, police found in his house video films of him raping little girls. They said he did this so he could sell the films to pedophiles''.''<ref name="chicagotribune">{{cite web |last1=Moseley |first1=Ray |title=Child Sex Case Adds Outrage To Scandals Rocking Belgium |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1996/10/27/child-sex-case-adds-outrage-to-scandals-rocking-belgium/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170831072111/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1996-10-27/news/9610270253_1_marc-dutroux-minister-willy-claes-jean-marc-connerotte |url-status=live |archive-date=31 August 2017 |website=chicagotribune.com |date=27 October 1996 |publisher=Chicago Tribune |access-date=9 November 2019}}</ref>

=== Attempts to have access to Dutroux Dossier from WikiLeaks blocked in Belgium ===
In 2009, [[WikiLeaks]] published the Dutroux Dossier. Belgian authorities tried to have the dossier taken down. The prosecutor general of Liege, Cedric Visart de Bocarme, said, "There is some true, some false, some very disparate information here, involving some people who have done nothing wrong, who have simply been mentioned in an investigation and are thus exposed to public contempt, whereas all this material should have remained classified."<ref name="australian">{{cite web |last1=Charter |first1=David |title=WikiLeaks slammed over publishing dossier including Belgian pedophile killer Marc Dutroux|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/wikileaks-slammed-over-publishing-dossier-including-belgian-pedophile-killer-marc-dutroux/news-story/94e96a9a0c5ca807ae94afe12d1ded62 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170227223432/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/wikileaks-slammed-over-publishing-dossier-including-belgian-pedophile-killer-marc-dutroux/news-story/94e96a9a0c5ca807ae94afe12d1ded62 |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 February 2017 |website=telegraph.co.uk |publisher=The Australian |access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref>