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Bart Debie begins jail term today
I first heard about the case of former Antwerp police superintendent Bart Debie last spring in person from a Belgian who is intimately familiar with the facts of the case. It was one of the most appalling and astounding things I’ve ever heard. Debie has been persecuted for the last five years by the Belgian authorities for “racism”—the “racism” consisting of his supposedly creating an “atmosphere” in his police department which supposedly led to a “racist” remark—a remark, not an act—by one of his officers, a remark about Turkish criminals, a remark that was made in the police station when Debie was not present in the station. For this, Debie has been stripped of his police career, stripped of his political and civil rights, removed from his seat on the Antwerp city council to which he was elected after he was forced off the police force, been fined 30,000 euros, and sentenced to a year in jail, which he begins today.
Diana West tells the story. Email entry |