The appeal proceedings in the high-profile Bommeleeër II perjury case got underway on Tuesday morning at the District Court in Luxembourg City.
The case involves accusations of false testimony given during the original Bommeleeër trial in 2013 and 2014, which was itself one of the most significant and controversial trials in recent Luxembourg legal history.
Plaintiffs from the original case, Jos Wilmes and Marc Scheer, also attended with their lawyers as civil parties, seeking compensation. In the first trial, they argued that the defendants’ suspected perjury led to a premature interruption of their 2014 trial after 170 hearings, which is a process that remains suspended to this day.
On the opening day, the public prosecutor requested that Pierre Reuland’s initial sentence, which was three years in prison, fully suspended, be upheld.
For the other three defendants, Aloyse Harpes, Guy Stebens, and Armand Schockweiler, the prosecutor again called for convictions on charges of perjury, though without specifying sentences.
According to the prosecution, the case concerns one count of perjury for Stebens, and two each for Harpes and Schockweiler. All three had been acquitted at their original trial.
However, progress on the first day of the appeal was slow. Just half an hour into proceedings, the trial was paused at the request of the civil parties’ lawyers, who wanted the hearings recorded.
The public prosecutor argued this would serve little purpose, citing that only defendants would be testifying anyway and they are free to speak or remain silent as they choose.
In fact, he expressed not having "much hope these sessions will shed much light on the matter". After a 15-minute break, the court decided against allowing recordings, and the hearing resumed.
Civil party lawyers also requested that Ben Geiben, founder of the Brigade Mobile, be called as a witness, arguing that they had important questions for him.
The presiding judge, however, questioned the relevance of this request and noted that Geiben’s written observations were already part of the case file and offered little new insight.
The prosecutor agreed, stating that ideas and suppositions contribute little as testimony, a view shared by defence lawyers. After around 10 minutes of deliberation, the court also rejected this request.
The trial is scheduled to continue on Friday morning and is expected to span a total of five hearings.
