I asked one of Belgium’s top lawyers how he could help me get my computers and papers back. A federal police unit, the out-of-control squad apparently concerned with Money Laundering operations, stole my property in an armed raid while I was absent on 24 June.
The local policewoman wrote to me saying the following people were the thieves who penetrated my house and took everything.
pjfgp.bru.blanch-witwas@police.belgium.eu
They left no document, showed me no legal mandate. They reply to none of my emails.
Who then is responsible before the Law for this outrage?
My lawyer said:
Phantom Justice.
For me a Phantom tilts the balances. It executes with its axe.
The lawyer, known for his analytical skill in understanding the Belgian system, said there was nothing he could do as he had to wait for the phantom to reply. Then he could react.
He warned me that it would take months to redress this injustice. In the meanwhile my bank account is frozen. No money can leave the account. I cannot make payments for my gas, electricity and water bills. I cannot deal with tax affairs.
How will I live, a pensioner, under this oppression? Does the Phantom want me to beg for food on the streets?
What sort of powers does this anonymous Phantom have over Belgium’s Justice system? Who will exorcise this spirit of injustice?
The Phantom Force is out of control. They raid a professional office, take professional secrets about journalistic sources. They scorn normal rules of law and professional secrecy. They act like bandits because they show no legal authority.
When identified and then only by an email address, they defy State and democratic control. They are anonymous and dead as a door nail to conversation about legality.
Political Level
I spoke to the office of Vincent De Wolf, the Bourgmestre of my commune, Etterbeek, the ‘commune of Europe.’ I was told the Bourgmestre had asked this police unit to provide him with a full report about what was going on.
He is still waiting.
Copies of my correspondence go to Minister of Justice Annelies Verlinden.
I hope for the sake of law and order in Belgium that the Phantom Force will respond rapidly to her request.
Maybe I can get my papers and equipment from the Phantom Force. I can then get back to work on my biography of French Statesman Robert Schuman and the origin of our European Human Rights laws.