2004
THE CASE DUTROUX
DER FALL DUTROUX
Belgium
45 min. tv documentary
author, director: Marcel Kolvenbach
WDR german public tv, Die Story
Investigates Belgium‘s notorious child abuse scandal.
Following Belgian journalist Michel Bouffioux, the film asks whether focusing on just one prime suspect is too narrow an approach. People behind the scene presenting new facts about a suspected criminal network into highest political ranks. The thesis, backed up by extensive documentation and circumstantial evidence, is that behind these horrific crimes lay a criminal structure with deep connections to high-ranking figures, investigators, and public prosecutors. The focus on the “monster” Dutroux obscures the search for possible instigators and backers. In the film, the famous and inflential lawyer Xavier Magnee, the parents of the victims, witnesses, and experts speak about the case. It is the biggest judicial scandal in Belgian history, which has severely shaken faith in politics and the judiciary to this day.