Antwerp Mayor and N-VA leader Bart De Wever in opposition to the Federal Government, claims that the Justice Department has instructed a specialised Antwerp police force to stop trying to arrest convicted criminals who are still at large.
According to Bart De Wever on the Sunday programme 'De Zevende Dag', the team is therefore 'on short-time'. The Liberal Justice Minister refutes these claims. "There have been no instructions to stop making arrests", the minister's office told Belga.
The questions to Bart De Wever followed the case of the prisoner tortured for several days in Antwerp prison, a scandal that has fuelled the debate on prison overcrowding, a problem that has persisted for many years.
The opposition accuses the majority of having aggravated the situation by persisting with its plan to execute all prison sentences, including the shortest ones.
N-VA leader and Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever. Credit: Belga/Jonas Roosens
"We must carry out these short sentences, but only if there are enough places", said Bart De Wever. The Antwerp local police make more than 1,000 drug-related arrests every year, he pointed out.
In any case, the Open VLD minister's team refutes De Wever's accusations. It even refers to a recent action by the Antwerp "Chase team" that led to the arrest of 15 people.
"They are looking for all convicted fugitives. And this is being done in close collaboration with the Antwerp prison, always with the seriousness of the facts in mind," his office said.
