It all started in May 2022 following a complaint from Sihame Haddioui, the Ecolo alderman for Culture in Schaerbeek. She accuses her colleague Michel De Herde of attacking her sexual integrity during a meeting of the municipal council. In September, a second complaint is made public. It emanates from a former pupil of a Schaerbeek school and leads to the indictment of the one who is still at the time alderman for education and the budget.
Mayor Cécile Jodogne withdraws all of her powers from Michel De Herde. The person concerned goes on sick leave and proclaims his innocence. This Monday, the Last Hour announces new charges, confirmed by the Brussels prosecutor’s office. This time it is a question of acts of rape of a minor under the age of 16, of a minor over the age of 16 and the possession of child pornography images. Michel De Herde denies. His lawyer refuses to comment and regrets the failure to respect the presumption of innocence in this case.
Expelled from the party?
The question of the exclusion from the party of the former Schaerbeek alderman from public education Michel De Herde, already suspended, will be put to the committee of wise men, the body responsible for compliance with DéFI’s ethics, which will meet in emergency, the amaranth formation announced on Monday.
The management of DéFI, in a press release, claimed to have learned through the press of the new charges once morest Michel De Herde. “The new elements reported in the media are of such seriousness that the committee of wise men, the body responsible for compliance with DéFI’s ethics, will meet urgently, at the request of the president and the secretary general of the party. This, in accordance with the statutory provisions. Although the presumption of innocence remains in place, the question of its exclusion will be raised“, the party said.
Last November, this committee had already decided, as a precaution and provisionally, to suspend Michel de De Herde from the right to vote and eligibility in the central and local bodies of the party.
