Accelerated proceedings for all sexual offences

"There must be no impunity for asylum seekers who have committed theft, sexual assault or rape," Member of Parliament Sophie De Wit thinks. Therefore she pleads for the use of accelerated proceedings, as is already applied to hooligans. "State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken and the Immigration Office often need a sentencing in order to be able to detain or expel an asylum seeker. Otherwise, we land a in grey area," Sopie De Wit clarifies. In addition, she hopes the Minister of Justice, Koen Geens (CD&V) will make extra efforts: "His positive right of injunction could enable him to act more resolutely and contribute to the asylum policy of this government."

"As yet, Minister Geens has never used his positive right of injunction for asylum seekers and illegal immigrants who have committed crimes," Sophie De Wit nonetheless notes. This means that the Minister of Justice can impose his priorities regarding criminal proceedings policy and require the public prosecutor to investigate and prosecute crimes. "Of course, we should assume that the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Justice Department already do all that is necessary, but the recent quick release of some suspects has still led to some disquiet," De Wit states. "It seems high time for the Minister to revert to this legal measure."

Dirty work
Every time the public prosecutor releases a criminal asylum seeker, the ball gets lobbed back into State Secretary Theo Francken's court. "He then has to do the dirty work, with the limited means he has at his disposal. After all, it wouldn't be right to send the perpetrators back to the asylum centre where their victim is, would it?" Sophie De Wit asks. "Still, dealing with sexual offences is one of the priorities of the criminal proceedings policy. Therefore we expect the Minister of Justice to shoulder this responsibility with us. Otherwise a perception of impunity will arise, leading to a loss of support among the population for providing shelter to refugees."

No unequal treatment, just a quicker sentence
In this context, the N-VA is a proponent of accelerated proceedings for all sexual offences, regardless of the perpetrator's origins. "Under no circumstances do we wish to discriminate, neither do we wish to stigmatise a certain segment of the population," Sopie De Wit states. "We do not ask for unequal treatment, we just ask for quicker sentencing. Accelerated proceedings allow for more resolute intervention. There will be no need to wait two years for a ruling. And it should be noted that, unlike in the case of a Belgian perpetrator, there is a large risk that the perpetrator in question is no longer in the country after two years, leaving victims with little to no recourse. That would truly be discriminatory."