Surprisingly, it was not the Dutroux trial that marked lawyer Georges-Henri Beauthier the most. “No, it’s that of the Chadian dictator Hissene Habre (Editor’s note. sentenced in Dakar to life imprisonment in 2017 for crimes once morest humanity, war crimes and acts of torture). Until then, dictators were judged in Lahaye, before the international criminal court. Trials were conducted outside the natural setting. The Rwanda trial was conducted in Belgium. With the trial of Hissène Habré, it was the first time that an African regional court was able to try an African on its territory. There were 6,000 victims. I was in charge of the ‘Sexual violence’ section once morest him, in particular. We managed to have the skin of a dictator before an international regional court. It was the story of a dictator who had ruined his country, fled with lots of money. I felt much more comfortable in Dakar in front of an African court rather than in Lahaye once morest, in quotation marks, Africans. African victims have been given the opportunity, where they live, to say what they think of a dictator. “
Hissène Habré, desert strategist turned relentless executioner
You also defended three English hooligans following the Heysel drama…
“Two were acquitted, one was convicted in absentia. They had been brought before the court just because they had boarded the train in England and had been able to identify them. It was assumed that they were murderous or killer hooligans because they were funny. It was a ratonnade to find culprits. Well, they weren’t intellectuals, they were shouters. When I went to see them at Louvain prison, there was a bunch of people there who weren’t well dressed, not very polite. But my clients were innocent among hooligans who weren’t.”
The trial of the lamp workers has, above all, spared the hooligans
Even if you gave up your hand, you were the lawyer for the victims of the attacks in Brussels. You didn’t want to continue until the trial? That would have been a good conclusion for your career, wouldn’t it?
“No. Abdeslam was sentenced ad vitam in Paris. What more do we expect than the truth which has already been widely exposed in France? Here, in Brussels, once once more, the Belgian authorities are not called into question, in terms of responsibility, prevention, observation… In this trial, I did what I had to do. I had three clients who had to be recognized as victims to be compensated.”
You were also the lawyer for the Mendez Brothers suspected of having sold arms to Patrick Haemers, himself then suspected of being the “giant” of the Brabant Killers…
“Here too, we can clearly see the diversion of State responsibility. It’s like the Dutroux affair. It’s the same scenario. We are always trying to find out. Who was involved in power? And in the police? What happened ? Will we know one day? What regarding the Belgian authorities, the police authorities, the political authorities? There are all the same things that escaped sagacity, things that were not done correctly. I do not understand that such a bloody affair does not lead to the questioning of political leaders.”