Following the theft of at least three skeletons and two skulls from a Walloon Heritage Agency (AWaP) excavation site at Huppaye in May and June 2023, a complaint has been filed at a Tribunal in the Walloon Brabant.
The Walloon Minister for Heritage Valérie De Bue has filed for "burglary, climbing and/or use of false keys and the desecration of graves." This has been the third complaint since the beginning of her legislature.
"During the months of May and June 2023, a number of offences were recorded on the site, which is protected and completely off-limits to the public. Organised individuals stole at least three almost-complete skeletons and two supernumerary skulls," officials announced in a press release.
Since the beginning of her legislature, De Bue has filed other complaints in Wéris and Tavier, and claims that she will continue to do so as long as these problems persist. "This type of act cannot go unpunished. Heritage is a common good for all, it must remain so. It cannot be the playground of certain ill-intentioned individuals," De Bue said in the press release.
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"There's probably an element of vandalism and malice, but also an economic dimension," AWaP spokesperson Étienne Sermon told SudInfo, "The thieves sell the skeletons and skulls on archaeological dig sites."
The Huppaye excavation site in the commune of Ramillies, maintained by teams under the direction of the AWaP since 2022, has revealed important discoveries, including a 14th-century medieval cemetery and a 12th or 13th-century domestic dwelling among other findings.
"The sentence is in the hands of the courts, and depends on the theft. But in the most serious cases, it can go as far as a financial sentence or even prison," Sermon concluded. "Now it's up to the courts to do their job. But these acts cannot go unpunished."
