Belgian Authorities Apologize to North African Community

From the desk of Paul Belien on Tue, 2006-04-25 20:01

The Brussels police and judiciary have apologized to the North African community. On 13 April, one day after the murder of 17 year old Joe Van Holsbeeck, the office of the public prosecutor issued a statement saying the murderers were two “North African youths.” This did not seem unlikely because Van Holsbeeck had been knifed and some Muslim youths are skilled with knives. Though it is illegal in Belgium to slaughter livestock at home, this happens on a very large scale in Brussels during the annual Muslim feast of sacrifice.

Yesterday evening, however, the police arrested a 16 year old Polish born youth for the murder. The second culprit, who actually knifed Joe Van Holsbeeck and who is also thought to be a Polish minor, has not been found yet. Belgian radio and television said tonight that he has probably fled to Poland, where the murder has led to widespread indignation.

Glenn Audenaert of the federal police expressed his “regret that shortly after the murder the North African community was accused. [...] I have to add, though, that the federal police never said that the culprits were certainly North African,” Audenaert said. Jos Colpin, the spokesman of the office of the public prosecutor in Brussels, apologized because his office did officially accuse “two North Africans” on 13 April, whereupon the terminology was adopted in the Belgian press (and also by The Brussels Journal on 19 April). “We did this on the basis of witnesses’ accounts,” Colpin explained, “because almosts all statements [by witnesses] mentioned North Africans or culprits with North African features.”

Earlier today The Brussels Journal received an email from a civil servant of the Belgian Department of Justice, reproaching us for having called the murderers of Joe Van Holsbeeck “North Africans.”

Meanwhile the federal police and the office of the public prosecutor have asked to remove all the pictures and images of the suspects from all websites. The media, written and visual, are no longer allowed to distribute the images and photos unless the faces have been made unrecognizable. In Belgian law it is forbidden to publish or distribute texts, drawings, photos and images of minors who are being prosecuted or who have been arrested.

Els Cleemput, the spokeswoman of the federal police, said: “The investigation of the Brussels federal judicial police has revealed that the two suspects on the video images are minors. Distributing the images is forbidden and they have already been removed from the website of the federal police.”

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how about an apology from

Submitted by paulrevere on Sun, 2006-05-14 18:36.

how about an apology from the media using "north african" as an ethnicity to describe then dishonestly switching to using "polish" as a nationality creating the impression that the whole incident was made up by Belgian racists (somebody got stabbed so the culprit must have been north african) leading to groundless stigmatization of ethnic poles instead of reporting as it happened; a regrettable but understandable misidentification of gypsies, (some of who do look north african), as north africans. Gypsies are an ethnic minority in Poland and other countries which have their own culture and language (and high criminality rates) and the culture is something entirely diffrent form ethnic Polish culture,JP II or the catholic church. Memo to the belgian idiot bishop; gypsy youths have been known to rob and stab ethnic Poles under communism well before MP3s or the corruption of Polsih society by the western desire for MP3s.

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Apology was withdrawn, or so

Submitted by Brigands on Wed, 2006-04-26 12:21.

Apology was withdrawn, or so I read on VRT TT.
VHfc: They're illegal if they havnt notified the administration of their presence.

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Polish and Video

Submitted by VHfc on Wed, 2006-04-26 01:21.

@Canaanite: "These immigrants are not immigrants but they are asylum seekers, all Europe." No they are not. Poland is a member of the EU, so Polish can move freely in and out Belgium as they wish. It's also quite unclear why the Belgian police calls them "illegals" since technically spoken, Polish can't be "illegal" as EU citizens. "Distributing the images is forbidden and they have already been removed from the website of the federal police."I wonder what the legal status is of the video I uploaded on the American server Youtube in tempore non suspecto. As far as I know, Belgium has no authority over the US. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZUkNuAYpuk  

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Remember Van Gogh?

Submitted by Paul Belien on Tue, 2006-04-25 22:23.

Do you remember Theo van Gogh, who was ritually slaughtered? I would not know how to handle a knife without hurting myself, which is why I suppose it takes some practice for a city boy to kill someone in a crowded train station (very quickly, with hardly anyone noticing) and manage to get away without being covered in blood. However, since the murderer was a Polish minor, I suppose it is wrong to assume that it takes much skill to handle a knife properly.

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"This did not seem unlikely

Submitted by gomj on Tue, 2006-04-25 22:06.

"This did not seem unlikely because Van Holsbeeck had been knifed and some Muslim youths are skilled with knives. Though it is illegal in Belgium to slaughter livestock at home, this happens on a very large scale in Brussels during the annual Muslim feast of sacrifice."

I think it is unlikely that the author of this story is a journalist.

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These immigrants are not immigrants but they are asylum seekers

Submitted by abc on Tue, 2006-04-25 21:30.

These immigrants are not immigrants but they are asylum seekers, all Europe. 

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Well, how convenient!

Submitted by Mike77 on Tue, 2006-04-25 21:24.

"In Belgian law it is forbidden to publish or distribute texts, drawings, photos and images of minors who are being prosecuted or who have been arrested."

Well, how convenient!

And I suppose, under Belgian law, the names of these - ahem! - Poles will not be released either.

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