An investigation by the public channel RTBF has revived the issue of sexual assault in bars and nightclubs in Belgium, a phenomenon denounced since the fall of 2021 and which gave birth to the #balancetonbar protest movement. Released on Wednesday March 30, the magazine “Investigation” specifically implicated Carl De Moncharline, a key figure in the nightlife world in the Belgian capital for thirty years, creator of several famous nightclubs and a series of festive events.
Carl De Rijck – his real name – was specifically implicated by three witnesses in the RTBF report. With many details, but on condition of anonymity. A young woman, now 23, claimed that after drinking a beer containing a drug, she was taken upstairs to a dance hall, Le Wood, by its owner, Mr. De Moncharline, and that she had been saved in extremis by a call from friends on her cell phone.
A mother, alerted by her daughter’s friends, picked her up from the same establishment and took her to a hospital where ecstasy was found in her blood. A young man claims, meanwhile, to have been drugged and transported to the home of the person concerned where he allegedly suffered an attack eight years ago. An event which, he claimed, ruined the rest of his life.
The Brussels public prosecutor’s office does not want to indicate whether investigations concerning Mr. De Moncharline are in progress. A complaint filed against him was reportedly dismissed. For the rest, the judicial authorities invoke the secrecy of the investigations and the presumption of innocence, but assure that the question of offenses of a sexual nature retains ” all [leur] attention ».
It’s about a “unpleasant campaign illustrating well the birth of a democracy of denunciation”declares to World Me Jean-Pierre Buyle, lawyer and spokesperson for Mr. De Moncharline, who filed a complaint against X for defamation, slander and insults. With the hope, he says, that the witnesses will be forced out of anonymity and that a contradictory debate will thus be provoked. According to the lawyer, the suspicions weighing on his client are completely unfounded.
“A web of lies”
Mr. De Moncharline had agreed to respond to RTBF journalists, but retracted. “In a spirit of peace”, he explained to the Belgian press. Before leaving on vacation, Mr. De Moncharline mentioned on his Facebook page “a web of lies”. “We are not in a Weinstein case”he added, introducing himself as “an honest man, a billion years from what I am accused of”.
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