2023-10-23 08:49:02
Former Spade alderman Paul Mathy was sentenced Monday by the Liège criminal court to 18 months suspended prison sentence and a firm fine of 20,000 euros for acts of human trafficking in the context of his duties. Two city employees were acquitted with the benefit of the doubt.
For 19 months, from 2016, a homeless man was housed in the disused and unsanitary buildings of the old Spa thermal baths. Accommodation with the agreement of the City in exchange for an (unofficial) role of concierge and security. The man had also received authorization to dismantle scrap metal and resell it for his own profit.
The case was reported to the federal prosecutor’s office and the social laws carried out an inspection which noted the absence of an employment contract, the unsanitary conditions and the dangerousness of the premises.
All three were prosecuted for human trafficking with the aggravating circumstances of authority, acts committed by public officials within the framework of their duties and endangering the lives of others. They also responded to charges linked to social criminal law.
The court declared the charges established against Paul Mathy, without the aggravating circumstance of authority. This conviction is accompanied by a ban on rights for a period of five years. He will therefore not be able, if such was his intention, to run in the next municipal elections. He told us he wanted to appeal. “I’m very disappointed, I didn’t expect it. I remind you that it is the Municipal College which made this decision so why am I the one being prosecuted. I made the decision with my lawyer to appeal“, he told us.
This conviction is also accompanied by a confiscation by the courts of part of the building concerned in Spa to the amount of 124.33 square meters. However, the old thermal baths are currently being transformed into a hotel. We will therefore have to see the impact of this confiscation on this project.
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