Belgian Parents Seek Answers in 14-Year-Old Daughter’s Mysterious Death, Justice Delayed for Over a Decade

The parents filed a complaint with civil party constitution on November 22, 2011 and have been waiting ever since for the justice system to establish any possible responsibilities. We no longer die of appendicitis, they say, saddened by a slow and difficult procedure for them. But what really happened? According to the parents, their daughter complained of abdominal pain. And the doctors consulted at the time responded that these pains were related to the school exams and prescribed her Fortimel, Motilium and Dafalgan. Unfortunately, Imane Jellal died and the case for involuntary manslaughter has been in the investigating judge’s office since 2011, according to sources close to the case.

On November 6, 2017, spokesman Denis Goeman had confirmed to Dernière heure the public prosecutor’s office in Brussels’ intention to prosecute criminally the University Clinics Saint-Luc, a neighborhood medical center and two doctors, including a pediatric emergency physician. He also reported that the judge in charge of the case is awaiting a medical report that is slow in coming, thus blocking the procedure.

This doctor seems to be a repeat offender, as in the past he had already taken three years to write his expert report on the death of the little girl. A report that turned out to be full of gaps with the absence of the necessary testimonies of sixteen doctors and nurses. Judge Anne Gruwez and the council chamber find themselves powerless due to the unprofessionalism of a doctor, unsuccessfully reprimanded on January 21, 2019, the newspaper continues.

In a letter addressed to the investigating judge, lawyer Jean-Paul Tieleman, counsel for the parents, denounces a file "totally paralyzed by the lack of professional conscience of the forensic pathologist who does not respond to any of the reminders sent by Judge Anne Gruwez". He describes a procedure "experienced by the parents as a real denial of justice" and a stagnation that appears to be "a way of reaching the statute of limitations."