Justice Minister promises “much tougher sentences for espionage soon”

Five years ago, courts convicted Oswald Gantois, a Belgian diplomat who styled himself somewhat of a James Bond.  He had leaked secret information to the Russians for more than two decades. Gantois received a one-year suspended prison sentence for these offences, but remarkably enough not for espionage, but for "membership of a gang with the purpose of committing forgery".

In that same year Brussels attorney general Johan Delmulle warned: "Our legal penal arsenal to prosecute espionage crimes is very dated - some articles pre-date the Second World War - and need to be adapted to contemporary society and reality."

Delmulle’s speech did not fall on deaf ears. The then Justice Minister Koen Geens (Flemish Christian democrat/CD&V) and his successor Vincent Van Quickenborne (Flemish liberal/Open VLD) were already pressing for a new penal code. It included stiffer penalties for espionage and aiding foreign interference. For espionage, the penalties would mount up to between 5-and 10-years imprisonment, for abetting foreign interference 3-to 5-years' imprisonment would be your lot.

Urgent

Only, that new penal code will only come into force in two years’ time at the earliest. Federal Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt (Flemish liberal/Open VLD) does not want to wait that long, certainly not in an era when espionage and interference again seem ubiquitous. "I have now asked the government to bring those articles into force early, given their urgency," he told VRT.

"And that urgency has been adequately demonstrated in recent days and weeks," Mr Van Tigchelt noted. For example, former Vlaams Belang MFP Frank Creyelman was recently unmasked as an informant of a Chinese spy, and in the meantime pertinent questions are being asked about his brother, Vlaams Belang MP Steven Creyelman. "It's no coincidence that spies seek contact with MPs, because that's where policy is conceived. Often, in such cases, it’s not in the Belgian interest, but in foreign interests."

Minister Van Tigchelt also points to Russia, a country at war and one engaged in hybrid warfare: not only on the battlefield, but also in terms of intelligence gathering and influence. "In the past few months, we have expelled no fewer than 19 Russian spies from the country. That's not insignificant!"

Extreme right

"Our intelligence services have been warning for some time now that Russian and Chinese spies have been making approaches to far-right politicians.  Such parties are full of admiration for authoritarian regimes and that makes their people impressionable," Van Tigchelt says. "There are now reports about Frank Creyelman, but back in 2018, State Security already reported to the president of the lower house on integrity problems involving the then far right MP Filip Dewinter (Vlaams Belang).

What about MP Steven Creyelman, who was chairman of the army procurement select committee, but decided to resign on Thursday? "The lower house has requested a report from State Security. Vlaams Belang is right when it says 'guilt by association' does not exist, but there are also reports about Frank Creyelman that refer to his brother, who has asked certain questions in parliament. The question that arises is whether Steven himself was manipulated by his brother, or whether he knew more. That’s a judgment that is up to MPs."