© RTL-Archive
11 years after the initial Bommeleeër bombing trial was suspended, a new trial began on Monday for seven former law enforcement officials accused of giving false or misleading testimony.
This new trial concerns five former gendarmes and two former members of the public security service, who stand accused of having misled the court during Luxembourg's original bombing trial more than a decade ago. Although the public has seen little movement in the case over the last 11 years, the results of follow-up investigations are now being scrutinised in court.
Although they were not summoned, the two defendants from the original trial, Jos Wilmes and Marc Scheer, both accused of involvement in the 1980s bombing attacks, appeared in court alongside their lawyers. Their defence requested that the hearings be officially recorded so they could refer back to them, but the judges dismissed the request.
Both legal teams have filed civil claims on behalf of their clients, each seeking €250,000 in material damages and €250,000 in moral damages. They argue that the alleged false statements by the seven defendants caused lasting harm, including years of media scrutiny.
The State has also filed a civil claim, arguing that the credibility and reputation of Luxembourg's institutions have been damaged.
One of the seven defendants has been declared unfit to stand trial due to health reasons.
Several lawyers argued on Monday that the case cannot be separated from the main Bommeleëer proceedings. As judge Roland Assa remarked, "Here something about something with something with reference to something should be decided", suggesting that determining perjury would be impossible without knowing the full truth of the original case. They requested a suspension of the trial; prosecutors disagreed, and the judges ultimately rejected the motion.
In the coming days and weeks, the court will hear from seven investigators, among others, who are expected to present their reports.
The Bommeleeër affair has haunted Luxembourg for over 40 years. Between 1984 and 1986, 21 bomb attacks were carried out across the country. By sheer luck, no one was killed, but the fear they instilled was real.
Who was behind the attacks? Some speculated that the Grand Ducal family was involved, others pointed to 'Stay Behind', a covert NATO-aligned paramilitary network designed to resist Soviet invasion.
Investigators eventually centred on a domestic theory: that certain members of Luxembourg's underfunded gendarmerie may have orchestrated the bombings to pressure politicians into reform. The professional execution of the attacks, requiring specialist knowledge, lent credibility to this idea.
Two members of the elite mobile brigade of the gendarmerie, Marc Scheer and Jos Wilmes, emerged as primary suspects after more than two decades of investigations. Aged 70 and 68 respectively today, they were the only two defendants in the main trial that began in early 2013 and ran for 177 days before being halted in summer 2014.
