Belgians protest any early release for child killer Dutroux

BRUSSELS: Several hundred people demonstrated in Brussels on Sunday against any early release for notorious child-killer Marc Dutroux, days after prosecutors considered his case.

The convicted paedophile and murderer, who turns 63 in November, was given a life sentence in 2004 for abducting and raping six girls in 1995-96 and for the deaths of four of them.

But on Thursday, prosecutors approved a request for a new psychiatric assessment of Dutroux, which could open the way for his conditional release.

Around 400 people, according to a police estimate, turned out in the rain after a call on social media to stage a "Black March", the colour of mourning. Many of the marchers were parents with children.

Dutroux murdered two of his victims and two died of hunger in a dungeon he kept in the basement of his home.

Dutroux´s mental health has not been assessed since his appearance before a court 15 years ago when he was described as a "real psychopath", a "perverted narcissist" and a "manipulator".

Dutroux´s lawyer Bruno Dayez, who took up the case in 2016, started moves for a re-evaluation of his mental state in the hope of obtaining his conditional release in 2021, when Dutroux would have served 25 years in prison.