Court of Appeal

The Ghent Palace of Justice is also linked to several well-known court cases. One of the major cases is definitely the Jespers-De Craemer case from the late 1970s. The accusation was the emptying of the safe of elderly Diane Ledoux and the murder of Jepsers' wife. This was brought to light by Luc De Craemer himself, who was seeking revenge after he realized that investigating magistrate Jespers no longer wanted to protect him. Craemer stated that Jespers had ordered him to blow up his wife's car. A few years later, Jepsers' wife was found dead in her bathtub. Guy Jepsers and Luc De Craemer were convicted of attempted murder, but not murder, and sentenced to 20 and 15 years in prison respectively, despite limited evidence.
The trial had many offshoots. There was also a political aspect since Jepsers had also been a cabinet staff member of Willy De Clercq. De Craemer was defended by Leo Martens, the prominent figure behind the Ghent ACV.
After a few years, Jespers was already released from the Nijvel prison. In the meantime, he had married his girlfriend Ghislaine Clyncke in prison. They would later run a café near the Ghent Palace of Justice. Dutch filmmaker Fons Rademakers even made a feature film about this story.

Dromos