Noos News•
Belgium’s Justice Minister is due to appear before a parliamentary committee on Thursday to explain the urination incident on his birthday. The opposition parties want Minister Van Quickenborn (from the liberal party Open VLD) to take the floor.
The minister himself insists he acted correctly and knew nothing about three Christmas guests who urinated on a police car outside his door. The empty police car was parked at Van Quickenborn’s home for his safety. He has been under surveillance since his kidnapping attempt.
The minister celebrated his 50th birthday at his home on August 14. According to VRT, camera images not only show his guests urinating on the police car at different times, but you can also see how the minister himself comes out around 4 a.m. and opens the car door. The minister was aware of the urination and the pictures seem to indicate that he found it very funny. VRT concludes.
According to van Quickenborn, the images have been interpreted suggestively. He insists that he did not know about the car urination until he heard about it through the media. “It is also said that I was laughing when I looked at my mobile phone,” he says. Against VRT. “I think these interpretations are too far-reaching and contradict the truth.” Van Quickenborn claims he opened and closed the car door because it was not locked properly.
“They deserve respect”
Belgium’s Public Prosecution Office is now investigating exactly what happened, but the images have sparked outrage across Belgium.
“It is about the people who protect the minister day and night and who deserve his great respect,” says committee chair Christine van Vaerenbergh (of the conservative N-VA party), who chairs the committee to which the minister must now answer. She immediately presses: “If it turns out that the minister made incorrect statements about the incident, he simply cannot remain in office.”
This case is very disturbing for Van Quickenborn, because he, along with another minister, is also dealing with the police. The relationship between him and the police unions was bad for some time.