Court denies killer-rapist early release

• Tweet

BRUSSELS, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A Belgian court Monday denied a request by convicted child murderer-rapist Marc Dutroux for early release.

Dutroux, 65, convicted in in 2004 for kidnapping and raping six girls, four of whom died, argued he no longer posed a threat and asked the court that he be released and fitted with an electronic monitoring device, the BBC said.

In an interview published by the French magazine Le Sour, his mother urged the court to not grant Dutroux's request, saying he likely would re-offend.

Dutroux was arrested in 1996 but was convicted in 2004.

Under Belgian law, prisoners may be released after serving 15 years of a life sentence if they are no longer considered a risk. Dutroux said he is eligible to seek parole in a few months by counting all the years he has spent in prison, Le Soir said.

"I am certain he will start again," Jeannine Dutroux, 78, told Le Soir. "Marc isn't ready to be released because he still wants to attribute to others the responsibility for what he did. This is a repeat offender in his soul, as he has already proved throughout his life."

Although Dutroux was arrested in the 1990s, the case didn't go to court until 2004, the BBC said. Dutroux escaped custody during a court visit in 1998. Although he was quickly recaptured, Belgium's police chief, justice minister and interior minister resigned.

In August, Belgium's highest court allowed Dutroux's former wife, Michelle Martin, to be released and transferred to a convent after serving 16 years of her 30-year sentence in connection with the rapes and killings.

The couple was jailed in the 1980s for kidnapping and raping five young girls but received early releases for good behavior.