Jean-Michel Nihoul better known as Michel Nihoul (23 April 1941, Verviers, Belgium - 23 October 2019, Zeebrugge, Belgium[ citation needed ]) was a Belgian businessman and convicted felon. During the 1990s and 2000s, he was the subject of a media and legal case in connection with the Marc Dutroux Affair, but was acquitted with a Nolle prosequi in 2010 for alleged involvement in child abduction. But Nihoul was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for drug trafficking and criminal association.
In 1996, Michel Nihoul was convicted of fraud, forgery and the use of forgery within the framework of his activities within nonprofit organization "SOS Sahel", a Belgian association without lucrative purpose. [1]
In 1998, he was accused by "Witness X1", Régina Louf, of having participated in the murder of Christine Van Hees, in 1984 in a mushroom farm in Auderghem.
In June 2004, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison for criminal association, notably with Marc Dutroux, and for drug trafficking. He was released after serving a third of his sentence. He was acquitted of complicity in the kidnappings of children for which Marc Dutroux had been sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released on parole on April 28, 2005. [2]
In 2007, he announced legal actions against Régina Louf and journalists who defended the thesis of the pedophile network during the Dutroux affair. [3]
On April 23, 2008, he published an autobiographical book, [4] with sales reaching 10,000 copies in Belgium after two weeks of the launch of the book. [5]
In 2009, he created the Nonprofit organization "Adheh", an association dedicated for the defense and honour of human beings, which he managed from Zeebrugge where he resided. [6]
In 2010, he was dismissed for all charges related to the kidnappings and deaths of minors during the Dutroux case. [7] Also in 2010, Michel Nihoul claimed 250,000 euros in damages from Marc Verwilghen, former Belgian Minister of Justice and chairman of the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the Dutroux affair. [8] Verwilghen himself announced a counter-action against Michel Nihoul. [9]
Among his commercial activities was trade of aquariums. He was also a host on a radio station. Michel Nihoul died on 23 October 2019. [10]
Marc Paul Alain Dutroux is a Belgian convicted serial killer, serial rapist, and child molester. Initially convicted for the abduction and rape of five young girls in 1989, Dutroux was released on parole after just three years' imprisonment. He was arrested again in 1996 on suspicion of having abducted, tortured, and sexually abused six girls aged between 8 and 19, four of whom were killed. Dutroux's widely publicized trial ended with his conviction on all charges in 2004; he was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.
Michel Paul Fourniret was a French serial killer who confessed to killing 12 people in France and Belgium between 1987 and 2003. After he was arrested in June 2003 for the attempted kidnapping of a teenage girl in Ciney, Fourniret confessed in 2004 to killing nine people — eight females and one male — having been informed on by his then-wife, Monique Pierrette Olivier. Fourniret was convicted of seven of these murders on 28 May 2008 and sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole, while Olivier was given life with a minimum term of 28 years for complicity.
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Events of the year 2019 in Belgium.
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Regina Louf, also known as witness X1 in the Dutroux case, is a victim of organised sexual abuse and author. She was one of the most prominent witnesses in the case around Marc Dutroux.
Jean-Marc Connerotte in Neufchâteau, Belgium is an examining magistrate and judge known for his role in the Dutroux case.
Marc Metdepenningen was a Belgian journalist.
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