WIKILEAKS is at the centre of a new row after publishing uncensored police files from the investigation into a child killer.
The files include lurid evidence and wild accusations against one of Belgium’s leading politicians.
A senior prosecutor vowed to try to block the 1235-page dossier, much of which is drawn from interviews with rent boys and with Marc Dutroux, a pedophile who was jailed for life in 2004 for killing four girls and a former associate.
It is the latest controversy to engulf the whistleblowing website, whose founder, Julian Assange, is being investigated in Sweden on suspicion of molesting a 30-year-old woman who helped to organise his lecture tour. Mr Assange denies any wrongdoing. Last month WikiLeaks was widely condemned for publishing uncensored secret reports on the Afghan war, some of which named informants now said to be at risk of reprisals.
The Dutroux case left a deep scar on the Belgian psyche because it exposed a hidden world of child sex abuse but also triggered unproven conspiracy theories of a pedophile network reaching into the highest levels of society.
A leading Belgian politician was cleared of any suspicion of pedophilia or connection with Dutroux in 1996 after being named during the investigation. The dossier published by WikiLeaks revives those allegations against the politician, adding to the sense of outrage in Belgium.
“There is some true, some false, some very disparate information here, involving some people who have done nothing wrong, who have simply been mentioned in an investigation and are thus exposed to public contempt, whereas all this material should have remained classified,” said Cedric Visart de Bocarme, the prosecutor general of Liege.
“There is some wild stuff in these documents. Some witnesses are prejudiced and would say anything to try to blacken their neighbour, to make themselves seem white than white.”
Mr de Bocarme said that he was trying to find a way to block access in Belgium to the document on the WikiLeaks website but would not say how this might be possible. He rejected any suggestion that publication might be defended as in the public interest.
“This is a false defence in my view because WikiLeaks is giving information which is false and which invades private life,” he said. “It is scandalous to use the explanation of transparency because inquiries of this kind should remain confidential.”
Dutroux murdered two girls and, while he was in custody for three months concerning a car theft, another two starved to death locked in his cellar. Police had searched the house but failed to find Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo, both aged eight.
Jean-Denis Lejeune, Julie’s father, said that “exposing in full view” the contents of the investigations was “pure voyeurism”. The dossier was originally posted on WikiLeaks in April last year but has only now come to the attention of Belgian authorities.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, a spokesman for WikiLeaks, said that he was surprised that the material had caused a stir now. “It comes at a time when there is a lot of controversy around WikiLeaks – it is very interesting,” he said. “It is a bit of an old story.”
Asked whether WikiLeaks would consider removing or redacting identities in the files, he said: “That has not been discussed.”
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