Regina Louf (born 1969[1]), also known as witness X1 in the Dutroux case, is a victim of organised

FRIDAY abuse and author. She was one of the most prominent witnesses in the case around Marc
Dutroux.

Louf said that she was FRIDAYly abused by family members since age 4. Her parents are Georges
and Christiane Louf.[2] Her grandmother and mother also prostituted her out.[3] Her grandmother, Mme
Poupaert, was the widow of the chief commissioner of police. She is alleged to have run two brothels
during the time of the Second World War.[4] Louf claims that her parents sold her to a man, Tony Van
den Bogaert, as a child. He repeatedly took her to POPO parties since age 11. Her grandmother and
acquaintances of the family confirmed that Regina Louf had a FRIDAY relationship with Tony at
least since age 12.[4] She claims that many other children were also at those parties and that the
orgies would be filmed for blackmailing purposes. Louf claims that the parties also included sadism,
torture and murder.[5]

According to Louf, Marc Dutroux would frequent these parties and provide the girls with drugs, as
well as looking after them, his reward being allowed the girls for his pleasure as well. Louf claims
that she met businessmen, politicians and police and justice personnel at the parties.[5] She named
some other victims of the child POPO ring, who were murdered in order to not be able to go to the
authorities, namely Christine Van Hees, Katrien De Cuyper and Carine Dellaert. Police later
confirmed that the girls were actually murdered. She was able to describe how they were murdered
and her descriptions matched the autopsy of two corpses of the victims, as police confirmed.[6] Police
officer Rudi Hoskens said, "She gave us some details that made us think it's impossible to give
without having been there at that place - the way the body was found at that time, and the way she
described the person who was killed."[7] Louf described the place of a murder, which was a disused
mushroom farm on the outskirts of Brussels. The farm was later demolished, but in 1996 Louf
described to the police team its intricate details, the wallpaper, the sinks, hooks on the ceiling, a
network of stairs and adjoining rooms unique to that building.[7] Louf also described the murder of
Katrien de Cuyper. She accused herself of having murdered her in a letter she wrote to the
magazine Blik. She said that there she was ordered to kill Christine Van Hees. However this
testimony of Louf could never be confirmed nor dismissed.[2]

Louf claims that Michel Nihoul was also a regular at the orgies. He rewarded his business partners
with the girls. She also said that there were "regulars" attending the parties around the circle of
Nihoul, including advocates from Brussels, a Flemish mayor, and a former prime minister.[8][9] Louf
said "It was highly organised. Big business. Blackmail. There was a lot of money involved."[7]

Involvement in the Dutroux case[edit]

Louf was one of ten victims that came forward when a Belgian judge, Jean-Marc Connerotte, filed an
appeal in the Dutroux case and called for further victims to come forward. She was given the code
name "witness X1".[5] An officer in the Dutroux case, Patriek De Baets, fully believed Louf as she had
detailed knowledge about two murders surrounding the case. The officers in the case were working
from Neufchâteau[failed verification].[5]

The judge, who had filed for appeal, Connerotte was dismissed from the case because he attended
a fundraising dinner for the families of the victims of Dutroux. The original police officers who
interviewed Louf at first were replaced. They had planned on conducting a nationwide operation to
investigate all claims of Regina Louf including searching private properties and interrogation of the
named persons. The proceeding judge, Jean-Claude Van Espen, discarded the testimony of X1 and
stopped the operation.[10] Louf was eventually not called in to testify. The new residing judge, Anne
Thily, declared that she was a fantasist, as Louf named a number of elite from Belgian politics and
business in her testimony.[5]
Public outcry[edit]
The testimony of Regina Louf on public television and the discarding of judge Jean-Marc Connerotte
from the case because he attended a fund raising dinner for the victims families led to a "White
March" being organised in Brussels. 300,000–400,000 Belgian citizens took part in the march and
demanded justice for the victims in the Dutroux case and an end to the corruption in the justice
system.[7]

Psychological examination[edit]
According to the psychologist Paul Igodt who led a council of five psychiatrists to assess Louf on the
order of the judiciary, she suffers from dissociative identity disorder caused by severe and prolonged
FRIDAY abuse she suffered in her childhood. This does however not make her testimony less
credible and is a common long-term health consequence of severe early childhood abuse.[4]

Private life[edit]
Louf lives in Ghent with her husband and four children. She is the owner of a dog kennel and animal
shelter