Marcel Vervloesem: living miracle at the tribunal of the sentence

Bruxelles, le 23 juin 2009

Professor Gagliardi makes a psychophysical valuation of Marcel Vervloesem; the State’s psychosocial service sabotages his dossier for the court of application of the sentences, who envisages a provisional decision tomorrow, at the 43rst day miracle survival to a suicide, before a definite decision in two weeks.

Giorgio Gagliardi, Italian medical doctor, psychotherapist, legal expert and former mayor of his city, met Marcel Vervloesem at the prison of Bruges this Monday June 14, to carry out a psychophysical expertise. Marcel has abstained from any medication for 40 days, following the promise of a doctor in the prison that he could not survive that more than 10 days, while eating normally. His first question was: "How long can I still survive like this?" Diabetic coma normally occurs between 5th and the 8th day without insulin, says Dc Gagliardi. It is impossible that Marcel can be treated by the integration of drug in his food. He must imperatively have insulin injections; make blood tests to control his glycaemia and his kidneys.

The head of section comes every evening at 9 o'clock with the glucometre, food Marcel accepts, and the medications he refuses. The sugar rate in his blood has stabilised at 600 for weeks, which is well over the threshold necessary to diabetic coma, according to Dr. Gagliardi. The door closes up to 6h30 in the morning, after observation of the miracle, which is being repeated for 40 days. The regulation only allows to come in the cell at night if he is dead, or with 6 warders. He is wakes-up every two houres by thirst and the need to vomit. The prison doctors, who repeated him every day that he would not live more than two days, no more know what to tell him, but they cannot obtain his release on parole for health reason.

MARCEL VERVLOESEM IS A LIVING MIRACLE, says Dr Gagliardi. The Minister for justice, have an old grudge against him. Founding member of the NGO Werkgroep Morkhoven, dedicated to assist discriminated people, Marcel has been exposing for 20 years an Antwerp police officer, who would telephone paedocriminals to warn them of house searching, when an official report exposed them for the abduction of a minor. The case led the NGO to the Zandvoort file: 88.539 photographs of children abused, tortured, and exploited for the pornography, then to Marcel's inprisonment for rapes his health condition unabled him to execute.

Dr. Gagliardi testifies that Marcel says he does an arm wrestling with the Belgian authorities, who severely ridicule the prisoners' rights. "He says without any ambiguity, that when he will die, all this be held against the Belgian Government, which knows what is happening, what to do, but does not do it". As in all good democracy, Belgium covers the State murders by censorship of the press, but Karl Zero and Serge Garde have broken it on BFM-TV, French channel. The ministry of justice has immediately waved the ban to judge the application for parole for health reasons. The tribunal of the application of the sentences has gathered this morning.

But over-passed the shock, there had been a counter-order. The ministry's psychosocial service has caught the same disease as the Clerk’s Offices of the Turnhout county court, the Antwerp court of appeal and the Brussels' Court of cassation: the main parts of the file had disappeared. They even had delicacy to integrate rape charges, forgetting emphasise they had been rejected by all the tribunals, the judicial truth having recognized the credibility of the testimony according to which these complaints had been filed for a remuneration of 10.000 BEF, and an extra 5.000 BEF for those who would say on television they had been raped by Marcel.

The ministry's psychosocial service had the originality to present its conclusions on an application for parole on health grounds, without a word about Marcel's health or his suicide.

Initially, Marcel has multiple diseases, who compares the imprisonment to torture and do not allow him to survive his sentence. In addition to his diabetes, cardiopathy, pancreatitis and renal dysfunctions, he has a cancer, with development of metastases, which were operated, but left without chemotherapy, since four years and half. He was, during the first two months of imprisonment, object of five hospitalizations in intensive care, consequently "medical mistakes", and then an open-heart operation in March.

Among the "missing" parts, my invitation to organise Marcel's palliative care in my house, the social survey to judge of the security conditions that I guarantee, a letter of his daughter to confirm it and all the correspondence with the academic hospitals.

The service department has also filched each of the systematic refusal of prison leave (which should ease the conditions of his detention), as well as the arrest of the Council of State, which judged illegal, the sanctions that the prison imposed to him, among which a prohibition to go to the mass, in reason of publications of our NGO, on which he has no control.

However, the service of the ministry has left the evidence its intervention to violate Marcel's rights of defence, in his request of an electronic tagging for health reasons, while waiting for the European Court of Human Rights to judge of the legality of his conviction, based on an incomplete file. The request being made for health reasons, Marcel's lawyer asked the presence of Dr. Proot, the head doctor of the prison, whom by law, the opinion is a priority.

Nele.Verhenne@ just.fgov.be, Secretary of the Registrar, then asked Olivier.Varkas@ just.fgov.be and Geert.Tavernier@ just.fgov.be respectively social psychologist and psycho-social services, their opinion. The social worker replied: "Nele, We have no idea of the reason why the concerned doctor Proot wants to appear. We do not see the value that his testimony can provide." The secretary of Registrar then informed Marcel's lawyer that the prison direction had refused the doctor's presence at the hearing!

This is how the request was to be judged, among which, with a complete overhaul of the judicial expertise, where the "doubts" Dr Cosyns because of "the number of (paid) complaints", which had allowed to sentence Marcel to the death penalty. The Ministry's psychosocial service has indeed found him compulsive lying, exhibitionism and histrionic personality disorder, a strange definition of a miraculous survival to a 40 days suicide, which Professor Gagliardi was there to analyze last Monday.

"Marcel's speech is not controlled, but free", says the expert. "He does not use turgid or extravagant terminology, but simple ones. He does not speak as a researcher of paedophile networks, but of the problem in general. He only makes reference to himself, as a person. So there is no compulsive lying and not even nervous break-down because of his current state".

We are advised at 40th days of suicide, that Dr Van Mol, head doctor for all the Belgian prisons, is favourable to grant to him "more human detention conditions", which consist in sending him to die in the prison of Turnhout. The humanity is to allow him to see more often his daughter, his adoptive son and his grand-children, by reducing the distance the State had decided they had to be parted, for so-called "medical reasons".

Marcel is living miracle, it is perhaps because he has no particular wish to die, or to become a martyr, but he entrusts his life to the Grace of God, to obtain the application of fundamental rights. He would like to benefit from his sacrifice, but he will also be satisfied if his death can open the eyes of the people on the Belgian judicial system and how it handles cases related to corruption, sexual exploitation of children and the rights of prisoners. He does what he believes fair, without mentioning the physical suffering that he endures, just embarrassments, like the loss of the sight. He does not judge his assassins or the cowards who let him die without intervening. In the worst case, he says of their behaviour: "Isn't it incredible?"

Marcel’s lawyer has asked to postpone the hearing, counting on extra miracles, because he has much less chances to survive the time that this judgement passes to the Court of Cassation. A provisional decision should be taken tomorrow, but the final hearing will be in two weeks, of where a hope that can be transformed into slaps. A magistrate said that the Minister of Justice may take the decision to release him on health grounds. He has not done so. There is much to fear that Marcel has more trust in God than in justice. In that case, the State will carry on an arm wrestling with a dying man.

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Marcel Vervloesem: living miracle at the tribunal of the sentence