Belgium's most reviled criminal, Marc Dutroux, on trial for the kidnap, rape and murder of young girls, insisted today on his claim that he was a reluctant accomplice in a wider paedophile ring.
In a final plea to the court for the last time before the jury decides on a verdict, Dutroux admitted having kidnapped and raped the girls but denied killing any of them.
Accused Marc Dutroux attends the hearing during the pedophile trial at the Palace of Justice in Arlon, Belgium, Monday May 24, 2004. (AP Photo/Jean-Pierre Clement, Pool)
"I am here to be condemned and my errant ways must be condemned," he told the court in Arlon, near the Luxembourg border.
Dutroux and three co-defendants including his ex-wife, Michelle Martin, are charged with kidnapping and raping six girls and killing four of them. The two youngest victims, both aged eight, died of starvation in a cell that Dutroux built in the basement of his house to keep his victims.
Prosecutors accuse Dutroux (47), of being the leader of his own small band of child abductors rather than the pawn of a wider paedophile ring whose existence has yet to be proven.
The trial has gripped Belgians for more than three months but has produced few new details about the crimes that first shocked the nation in the mid-1990s. The country is divided between people who believe Dutroux worked under the protection of a child sex ring with members in high places, and those who do not.
In a prepared speech, Dutroux called on his co-defendants to tell the truth about the death of the girls, whose bodies were dug up in the backyard of two houses near the southern city of Charleroi following the arrest of the suspects in 1996. "I also want to know," he said.
Dutroux said Martin knew the circumstances of the death of the youngest victims - Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo.
He also repeated his assertion that Michel Nihoul, another co-defendant, was the leader of the ring who knew about the deaths of the two other girls, teenagers An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks.
If convicted, Dutroux could face a maximum sentence of life in prison, Martin up to 35 years, Lelievre up to 35 years and Nihoul up to 25 years. The 12-member jury is expected to hand down a verdict sometime next week.