The Namur public prosecutor’s office on Friday requested five years’ imprisonment for a member of the federal police who sold cocaine worth €11,500.
The events took place between May 2017 and October 2019 in the district of Dinant.
The defendant, a police officer suffering from a gambling addiction, worked overtime in the hotel and catering industry via Flexi-job. He began using cocaine to keep up with the frenetic pace of his work, then started selling it. He eventually had a dozen or so customers.
The policeman lost his job when the trafficking was discovered and was imprisoned for a short period. Sentenced in 2018 by the Court of Appeal to 150 hours’ work, he continued his business.
He now claims to have stopped selling and consuming drugs, to have been banned from gambling and to have cleared his debts.
The Namur public prosecutor’s office is not opposed to a possible suspended sentence, but is asking for a five-year term in order to “put a sword of Damocles” over the defendant’s head.
Counsel for the defence requested a work sentence.
