The Mechelen council chamber is currently discussing the referral of Bart De Pauw to the criminal court. According to the public prosecutor’s office, there are sufficient objections to refer the case to the criminal court. The well-known television maker is suspected of harassment and digital nuisance. Neither his defense nor the bourgeois parties oppose a referral.
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“There are sufficient objections, according to the public prosecutor’s office, to refer the case to the criminal court. This afternoon the decision of the council chamber will fall. This is what Lieselotte Claessens, spokeswoman for the Mechelen public prosecutor, said after the hearing at which the Antwerp prosecutor’s office asked the council chamber to refer the television maker. She made it clear again that a council chamber does not decide on guilt or innocence.
Photo: Olivier Matthys
The session of the council chamber took place behind closed doors on Tuesday. Bart De Pauw was not present. He was represented by his two lawyers. “We have not opposed a referral,” said lawyers Michael Verhaege and John Maes when they left the court after ten minutes. They made no further statements. “We hold our arguments in favor of public execution.”
–Photo: Olivier Matthys
The actresses and employees who were alleged to have been stalked by De Pauw did not show up at the hearing in the council chamber. They never filed for a trial: the court opened an investigation without ever filing a complaint. This happened after De Pauw himself announced their complaints in a video message.
READ ALSO. Bart De Pauw was given the opportunity to escape trial, he refused (+)
But the women’s defense is also ready for trial. “At first they were not keen on that either. But if it has to, it has to. They want recognition for what happened. ” The alleged victims will lose their anonymity due to the possible lawsuit, but that does not deter them, according to lawyer Christine Mussche.
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