The appeal hearing on the granting of parole to the ex-wife and accomplice of Belgian paedophile serial killer Marc Dutroux is taking place in Brussels today.
Michelle Martin was granted parole last month on condition that she spend 10 years in a convent in central Belgium.
Marc Dutroux was jailed for life in 2004 for the kidnap and rape in the 1990s of 6 young girls and the murder of the 4 of them who died.
Ms. Martin was given a 30-year sentence the same year for helping Dutroux hold victims prisoner.
She was also charged with complicity in the deaths of 2 girls who were found starved to death in a locked cellar.
It is expected that the court will deny the appeal clearing the way for the release of Ms. Martin.
The tribunal is examining 2 challenges to the legal procedures followed when a regional court reached its initial decision on July 31st to free Martin.
One of these came from Jean-Denis Lejeune – whose daughter Julie was one of Dutroux and Martin’s victims – and Laetitia Delhez who survived a kidnap ordeal.
The other was filed by prosecutor Claude Michaux.
Dutroux was jailed for life in 2004 for the kidnaps and rapes in the 1990s.
The former schoolteacher married Dutroux in 1983 and had 3 children by him before their divorce in 2003.
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