BELGIUM: BRUSSELS: FUNERAL IS HELD FOR PAEDOPHILE VICTIM (2)

Описание: (8 Mar 1997) French/Nat

Thousands of people in Belgium have been paying their respects to nine-year-old Loubna Benaissa - the latest victim to die at the hands of a paedophile.

Parents of other missing and murdered children gathered in Brussels, Saturday, for a nationally-televised memorial ceremony.

Loubna's body was found buried under a garage this week - four and a half years after she disappeared.

Residents of Ixelles in Brussels, where Loubna Benaissa lived with her family and met her tragic death, hung white handkerchiefs outside their windows to pay their last respects to the little girl.

The body of the Moroccan-born girl was discovered in a box under a Brussels garage this week - over four and a half years after she went missing on August 5, 1992.

Belgium has been shaken by the catalogue of paedophilic crimes and the inadequacy of its Criminal Justice system in dealing with the offences.

Many Belgians took to the streets Saturday holding pictures of Loubna.

An Islamic memorial service was held at Brussels' main mosque attended by Loubna's family and parents of murdered and missing children.

There were also representatives of the Belgian government and royal family.

At the memorial ceremony, Loubna's sister Nabela Benaissa spoke of her grief and called her sisters' death an inhuman act.

SOUNDBITE: (French)
"One day you left home happily, and we unaware that the monsters were just around the corner. They were there. And hell was awaiting you. For years we looked for you all over the world without ever giving up hope. Where as you were just here, close to us. You were savagely thrown down a cave. Every day, we were passing by your executors."
SUPER CAPTION: Nabela Benaissa, Loubna's sister

After the service Loubna's body will be flown to Tangier in northern Morocco for burial.

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