Belgian women who accuse Bart de Pauw come out | Entertainment

entertainment">The accusations first surfaced in 2017. Flemish broadcaster VRT put De Pauw on non-active shortly afterwards. The presenter, actor and program maker insists that he has not assaulted anyone, but has only sent text messages in a “flirty” tone.

entertainment">The women have so far remained in the lee, but have spoken publicly for the first time on Wednesday. Their identities had been leaked. They let it be known that they would rather have found a solution without legal action. “We are relieved that the lawsuit is finally starting. And yet we regret that all of this has to go through legal channels ”, they declare in Belgian media on the eve of a lawsuit they have brought against De Pauw. “All we want is for the ongoing cross-border behavior to stop. That Bart De Pauw acknowledges that he made a serious mistake, that he apologizes and is not guilty of such behavior in the future. We hope this case will be brought to a successful conclusion in a fair and respectful manner. ” They also hope that their steps will encourage other victims of transgressive behavior to also sound the alarm.

entertainment">The lawsuit against De Pauw starts on Thursday. He faces up to two years in prison. He himself said through his lawyer in May that he was pleased that he could ‘provide context for all those allegations for the first time’. “I will take responsibility if it turns out that I have made a mistake somewhere, but I will defend myself to the utmost where there has been a lie or where I have been wrongly portrayed in a bad light.”

–