Westland New Post (WNP) was a Belgianneo-nazi organization founded in 1973 by Paul Latinus and members of the Front de la Jeunesse (FJ) including Michel Libert[1][2]. It has been cited by many news articles as being responsible for the Brabant Killings, committed by a gang known as the "Gang from Nivelles"[2][3]. Others[2] have linked its activities and the Brabant killings to the NATO anti-communism effort known colloquially as Operation Gladio, a clandestine operation establishing "stay-behind groups" which were tasked with committing violent and non-violent acts to prevent the spread of the Soviet Union and the political left in Europe [1][2].
The origins of the group are alleged by author David Teacher to be in 1973, formed from readers of the fascist publication "Nouvel Europe Magazine" edited by neo-fascist Emile Lecerf. The BBC Documentary Series "Operation Gladio: State Sponsored Terror", in its episode "The Foot Soldiers" of interviewed Michel Libert, who was a member of WNP from 1978 to 1981[1].
In the BBC documentary, Libert stated that the structure of the group was a Chief of Staff supervising two management groups providing financial support and the other providing assistance from "the respective authorities", such as the police or gendermerie[1]. Libert stated that those at the top of the group were unknown, and known only as "key people". Libert stated that there were 9 key people, and one known key person was Paul Latinus[1].
"The World Anti-Communist League couldn't act in all parts of the world. And when they wanted something done, who would they use? Comrades of the same system. [...] We knew we were protected by all possible authorities, depending on the type of mission." Michel Libert, 24 June 1992
The documentary also stated that the formation of the group was based on the model of the Schutzstaffel (SS), including a secret service, each member had a code name in German, and members were grouped by age and did not know the others. Branches were formed based on speciality, such as an "action" branch for those who were physically fit, or others formed "intelligence" branches for gathering intelligence. Libert also stated that the group used nearby universities for scientific support using laboratories where they could manufacture improvised explosives[1].
Later on after its formation, a journalist in the BBC documentary stated that he had spoken to Paul Latinus over dinner, and Latinus had stated he was given the task by "certain authorities" to set up a clandestine resistance group in Belgium, whose responsibility was to fight against Soviet penetration in the country and prevent Belgian authorities from collaborating with the Soviets[1]. When pressed on who had asked him to build the group, he mentioned it was Belgian State Security and the American military Secret Services (presumably the Defense Intelligence Agency) [1].
It was stated by Libert that the group generally would not send younger members (such as those from the Front de la Jeunesse) because they would end up with "a bullet between the eyes" or that they could be stopped by local authorities and have their identities checked, and could not reveal to authorities what they were doing. As a result, Paul Latinus was the person always sent out when the group carried out actions[1].
An unidentified journalist in the BBC Documentary also stated that a Belgian Secret Service inspector with the code name "Colonel" who initially admitted to infiltrating the group who admitted to giving surveillance courses to the group, but attended the group wearing a balaclava and accompanied by a guard, and possessed a membership card for Westland New Post. In addition to the Secret Service Inspector, there was also an official from the European Economic Community Security Services named "Robert".[1]
Later when the inspector was questioned by the unidentified journalist, he admitted that in addition to the courses on surveillance he had also given them courses in recruitment and the use of weapons. The person identified as "Robert" had also given them advice on the use of weapons, including how to kill without leaving a trace[1].
In speaking of Latinus, Libert stated "Was he paid by the Americans, I can't say, but he was in contact with them" [1]. Libert stated that "from 1982 to 1985 there were projects"[1]. Coincidentally, the "Bende van Nijvel" or Brabant Killings, a series of brutal murders committed in the Belgian province of Brabant occurred between 1982 and 1985.[4] Several sources also listed Christiaan Bonkoffsky, a former Gendermerie, professed to have been a member of, or related to the group of murderers in the Brabant killings who was dismissed from an elite police commando unit in 1981[5], but saliva and fingerprint evidence taken from Bonkoffsky were not positively matched to samples obtained from the killers in the Brabant killings[6].
Links to NATO "strategy of tension" and Belgian stay-behind network (Operation GLADIO / SDRA8)
Author David Teacher in his book Rogue Agents states that the Westland New Post was a recruiting front for fascist private armies which was headed since its inception by Paul Latinus, and from its inception had ties to the Belgian Sûreté de l'Etat (security state) and was an informant. Teacher also states that the WNP was a recruitment front and support for CEPIC candidates, such as lawyer and political candidate Jean-Pierre Grafé who allegedly had reached out to the Belgian far-right, and Westland New Post's poster team had picked up the slack in his campaign.[2] Teacher also claims that along with Major Jean-Marie Bougerol and Pierre Bonvoisin, Latinus was involved in a planned but not executed coup attempt in Belgium in 1973 [2].
Teacher also states that Christian Smets was appointed by his superior Victor Massart to acquire Latinus as a Sûreté informant, who then introduced Smets to the WNP. In February 1982, Smets had given the WNP training on surveillance, which was then used to stalk and kill two people in the Pastorale murders (see below). This led to enormous public outcry and allegations of Smets being a fascist sympathiser who colluded witn the WNP, with Massart claiming that Smets had acted on his own without prior authorisation[2]. Teacher claims that by exposing Smets' involvement in the scandal, Smets' investigation -- which was intended to investigate links between banker Pierre Bonvoisin's links to funding extreme right-wing groups like the WNP -- was covered up by Smets' scandal with the group [2].
Teacher states that the investigations into Operation Gladio revealed that Massart, Smets' superior was the principal contact for the security services and in particular, Jean-Marie Bougerol of the Public Information Office (PIO) which was originally set up by Defence Minister and AESP member Paul Vanden Boeyants as a counter-subversion and propaganda service, which Latinus was recruited into [2]. It was stated that Bougerol was visiting Massart despite the fact the PIO had been officially closed down, and that Bougerol then continued to view Sûreté files through his secretary Mirèze Legon which was illegal. Smets' investigation, Teacher alleges, into this illegal relationship, was "too close for comfort" [2].
Teacher also states that Bougerol was close personal friends with fascist Lecerc and gave lectures to WNP and Front de la Jeunesse [2]. In 1984, these scandals were beginning to become key political issues with the public due to revelations around WNP and also a 1981 report detailing links between CEPIC and fascist publication Nouvel Europe Magazine [2] as well as the scandal around the WNP which had gone public, which culminated in the death of Latinus in April 1984.
Teacher also links the similarities of existing "stay-behind networks" with WNP's "action" units, and Unit G, which included far-right sympathisers who were in the gendarmerie. And that in other countries, such as in Italy and Greece, NATO in its use of "the strategy of tension" looked to sympathetic groups on the ground, generally right-wing groups, to carry out its activities [2].
Pastorale murders
Marcel Barbier, a WNP member, was convicted in May 1987 for a gruesome double murder on the la rue de la Pastorale in Anderlecht on February 18, 1982. One of the victims, Alphonse Vandermeulen, had been married to Barbier's current girlfriend, Marcelle Gobert. The police interrogated Barbier and his girlfriend, and searched both their homes, but no arrests were made. The police investigation into the murders was without success until August 16, 1983, when a violent incident occurred at Barbier's home in Saint-Gilles. Barbier was arrested, and when the police searched his home they found confidential NATO material, various weapons and neo-Nazi material. It also turned out that Barbier was a former member of the Front de la Jeunesse, and was currently a member of a neo-Nazi organization called Chevalerie teutonique. Barbier was convicted and jailed for this violent incident,[7] but the investigation into the Pastorale murders continued.
During the interrogation of Barbier, the police found out about Westland New Post, although it was later revealed this organization was already known to the Belgian State Security Service, with an agent (albeit on his own initiative) already infiltrating the organization at the end of 1981, but the intelligence service did not communicate what it knew to the police or judiciary services. The police then investigated the WNP members to find out whether it was a private militia. Paul Latinus told the police that Barbier and another WNP member were behind the murders. Latinus had helped Barbier getting rid of the murder weapon and other relevant evidence. Barbier was the only person convicted for this murder, although other WNP members were suspect. In 1989, WNP member Christian Elnikoff claimed that he had committed the crime on Latinus' orders and that Marcel had made a false confession, also under Latinus' orders.[8]
NATO documents
During the investigation of the incident at Barbier's home, the police found confidential NATO documents. Barbier told the police they were not his, but the possession of another WNP member, Michel Libert. Michel Libert worked as a military volunteer at the NATO Transmission Centre in Evere. Latinus, leader of WNP, was interrogated multiple times by the police and would confess to the stealing of confidential NATO documents. Security at the Centre was not high, and Libert delivered the documents to Latinus, who later published some of the material in the two editions of the WNP Althing magazine, which was delivered to, among others, military personnel. Latinus told the police that this was on behalf of his 'American superiors', to wake up the military command at NATO that leaks were happening, with only material on the Soviet Union being published in the Althing. Later it turned out more WNP members worked at the NATO Transmission Centre, and would deliver material, via Libert, to Latinus.
Brabant killers (Nivelles Gang)
There have been links made by several authors and outlets between the WNP group and the Brabant Killings from the date of the attacks up to the 2020s [9][2]. Author David Teacher in his book "Rogue Agents", states that the killings are linked to WNP despite statements to the contrary by then Belgian Justice Minister Jean Gol who stated the motives of the killings were criminal gain (e.g. monetary) [2].
Teacher states that due to the provocative nature of the acts, such as the military type precision of the attacks (attacking only targets within the Brabant Wallon area, the use of military-type weaponry, meticulously planned attacks and getaways), the relatively low amounts of currency stolen in the heists, as well as the group waiting for the police to arrive before beginning their getaway were deliberate acts undertaken under the NATO Strategy of tension, which encouraged violent struggle used to achieve political ends, which were largely to stop the development of the left or the progression of the USSR into Europe after World War II [2].
Teacher also states that multiple investigations into the killings have pointed to far-right sympathisers within the Gendarmerie. As an example, he states that the group broke into a warehouse to steal prototype bulletproof vests, but the factory had only recently started to produce the vests, a fact which was only known to the Gendarmerie and a few ballistics experts [2]. He also stated that those who carried out the attacks employed tactics known as "Practical Shooting", which were well-known within the Diane unit of the Gendarmerie, the anti-terrorist unit [2].
A former member of the Gendarmerie Diane Unit and the BSR, the political intelligence unit, Martial Leukeu, alleged that he was recruited into a group named "Group G", a secretive neo-nazi organisation within the Gendarmerie by a man named Didier Mievis [2][10]. In the BBC Documentary named "Operation Gladio: State Sponsored Terror", member of the WNP, Michel Libert, stated that Group G was a "separate" group, but was considered a part of Westland New Post [1]. Leukeu stated that many in the Diane group shared his convictions as a fascist and would share the nazi salute, and would discuss plans for political terrorism, including plans to destablise Belgium and prepare for an authoritarian regime [1][2].
Leukeu stated that Group G was responsible for the theft of Group Diane's weapons, which was likely carried out, he stated, by Gendarme and fellow WNP member, named Madani Bouhouche [2]. Leukeu claimed that Group G was not only responsible for carrying out the killings in Brabant, but also was involved in targeting fellow Gendarmerie colleagues who were investigating crimes of WNP members, such as the 1981 attack on Major Herman Vernaillen, who had been investigating fraud scandals close to the group [2].
Teacher's central premise around the Brabant Killings is that they were used as a part of the strategy of tension but also served as a practical means of executing members of CEPIC, the right-wing of the Christian Democrat party, the PSC who were implicated in a prior coup attempt in 1973. He states that the killing at "Restaurant Aux Trois Candards" in Ohain, Walloon Brabant, was a regular "haunt" for Paul Vanden Boeynants, who allegedly visited there with former Gendarmerie General Fernand Beaurir, as well as Elise Dewit and Jacques Fourez, victims of a previous shooting in Colruyt Nijvel on 17 September 1973 [2]. The allegation that Dewit and Fourez were members of CEPIC has also been alleged by investigative reporting outlet PALA [11].
Publication P-Magazine published a differing account stating that a secret Gendarmerie report that Dewit and Fourez were "annoying witnesses" who were liquidated because they had incriminating information on them including a videotape showing "important figures " in situations susceptible to blackmail[12]. Paul Ponsaers' 1988 documentary "The Gang[13]" on the Gang of Nijvel, stated that police at the time thought it was by chance that Fourez and Dewit were near the Colruyt supermarket and were shot because they surprised the gang who did not want to leave any witnesses.
The documentary also stated that Dewit's mother refuted the idea that they had the habit of filling up their car at the Colruyt gas station, stating that Fourez was "familiar with his car and its fuel consumption.", but that he was also "a mysterious character" and had been secretly living with Dewit for 10 years [13]. The documentary however does acknowledge both as being businesspeople, with Fourez owning a construction company, department stores, and was a partner in a chocolate company and coffee shop, and that Dewit owned a hotel in Brussels [13].
In October 2014, the Belgian police apprehended Michel Libert, the former no. 2 of the organization. He was interrogated as a suspect in the Brabant killers case and his house was searched. The Belgian public television station RTBF alleged that Westland New Post had performed reconnaissance actions on the stores that later would be attacked by the Brabant killers.[14] M. Libert had previously been interviewed several times as a witness. He left the court as a free man. The search of his house did not reveal anything that pointed to a possible connection with the Brabant Killers.[15]
WNP and the Belgian State Security Service
Westland New Post was infiltrated by an agent of the Belgian State Security Service, Christian Smets. Smets already knew Paul Latinus, and Latinus previously worked as informant about the "extreme left" for the State Security. He was also an agent for some American intelligence service. Latinus himself tried to become an agent of the State Security, successfully passing the first exam, but he flew to Chile in January 1981 when the magazine Pour published an article in which he was depicted as an "extreme-rightist" infiltrating "extreme left" organizations. Latinus returned to Belgium somewhat later, and founded WNP with Marcel Barbier and Michel Libert.
In the organizational structure of WNP, Christian Smets was responsible for operational details, and taught the members about surveillance and intelligence gathering. One exercise of Smets supposedly took place just before the Pastorale murders, where members of WNP were given the task to shadow what later turned out to be one of the murder victims. Smets himself in later parliamentary testimony denied this proposition by former WNP members, but admitted giving intelligence exercises.
The last contacts between Smets and WNP occurred in June 1982, when Smets was transferred to the sector Brussels of the Secret Services, becoming responsible for VIP protection. Latinus at this time would stop being an informant for State Security, but Michel Libert would continue his relationship. According to Libert, Smets wrote an article in the anti-communist Nouvel Europe Magazine in March 1983, on the topic of "State Security prepares an extreme-right coup d'état?" Shortly after the Barbier incident Libert's relations to State Security would be severed, and the responsible group of State Security would be put off the WNP case.
Latinus suicide
The Belgian police found the dead body of Paul Latinus in the evening of April 24, 1984, at the home of his girlfriend in Court-Saint-Étienne, after her notification. The police found him lying on the floor of a basement, with strangulation marks around his neck, but no other signs of violence or disorder. They found a telephone cord that was cut. The girlfriend explained to the police that she found him when she came home from a bar, and that she cut the line between Latinus' head and the ceiling.
The body would be removed for burial, but the next day a judge ordered a house search. The girlfriend was again interrogated, and told the police that Latinus had a file Pinon, that had information on certain 'partouzes' of high-placed functionaries, involving minors. She said she had burned the file, after having shown it to an acquaintance. An autopsy was made that same day on the body of Latinus. The acquaintance that might have more information on the case was later found to have moved to Spain, before the Latinus suicide, but he was not further interrogated.
During the investigation into the death of Latinus, several WNP members would find it hard to believe that Latinus committed suicide, because he never gave a hint in that direction and had no reason to commit such an act. They found it more plausible that it was in fact a camouflaged murder, because he had a lot of compromising information on other people. Forensic tests were carried out in the basement in the winter of 1985, to check against the weight of Latinus, to see if the cord was not supposed to snap. Nothing conclusive came from this though, and an analysis of a certain quick strangulation method was also not found to be in agreement with the marks on Latinus's neck. The investigative team found no reason to continue the investigation, and thus the case Latinus was closed in the autumn of 1986. The remains of Latinus were exhumed in 1998, when the investigative team of the Brabant Killers, the cell-Jumet, tried to find out if the DNA of Latinus could be brought into connection with the Brabant massacre, but no positive results were found.
123456789101112131415BBC 1992. Operation Gladio: state-sponsored terror. London: BBC Timewatch [3-part documentary], at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUvrPvV-KQo
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Christian CARPENTIER & Frederic MOSER, La Sûreté de l'Etat - Histoire d'une déstabilisation, Quorum, Gerpinnes, 1993.
Victor MASSART, Les dés étaient pipés - Conspirations à la Sûreté de l'Etat, Quorum, Ottignies LLN, 1997.
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Dirk BARREZ, Le pays des 1000 scandales - Un quart de siècle d'affaires en Belgique, Quorum, Gerpinnnes, 1998.
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