Laurette Onkelinx

Biography

Born to Gaston Onkelinx and Germaine Ali Bakir, of Kabyle origin, she graduated in law at the University of Liège after which she worked as a lawyer for 10 years. At the age of 30 she was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives.

Her father, Gaston Onkelinx, originally a Dutch-speaking migrant from Flemish Limburg to francophone Wallonia, has long been mayor of Seraing (near Liège) and member of the House of Representatives (1974–1987). Her grandfather, Maurice Onkelinx, was alderman and mayor of Jeuk in Limburg and lost his civil rights for some years after the 2nd world-war. Her older brother, Alain Onkelinx, has been a member of the Regional Parliament of Wallonia since September 2005. She speaks French and Dutch.

Controversy

When Turkish terrorist Fehriye Erdal was sentenced to four years imprisonment by a Bruges court on 28 February 2006, it turned out that she had shaken off the Belgian secret service, which had the responsibility of following her since 23 February 2006 (Erdal had been under house arrest since 2000, and living in the same building as the DHKP-C secretariat). Both Laurette Onkelinx and Minister of the Interior Patrick Dewael have come under fire for this incident; the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V) and Vlaams Belang demanded the resignation of both of them on 6 March 2006.

In July 2006, Onkelinx came under heavy political fire again when one of Belgian's most notorious criminals, Murat Kaplan, did not return from a weekend-leave, which she signed off. In August 2006 she came again under heavy fire when 28 prisoners managed to escape from a prison in Dendermonde. In September 2006, it was reported that the criminal Victor Hoxha had returned to Belgium – he was deported earlier from Belgium in 2006, and told not to return for ten years. Prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, of the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD), has now asked the minister to refrain from releasing any criminals prematurely in the coming three months, but she refuses this demand. This comes just before the government prepares its budget for the coming year, and the October municipal elections.

CD&V and Vlaams Belang again had asked the resignation of the minister, but it is unknown how far the VLD will go in supporting the minister (and accordingly, the current federal government). On 23 September, it was reported that another criminal did not return from day-leave. Tony Van Parys, of the CD&V party, called it "incomprehensible that someone like Azzouzi [criminal in question] would get penitentiary leave." The cabinet's crisis was averted the next week, when a deal was struck between the VLD and PS, allowing criminals only to be released on parole, in the next months, after consent by their victim (or the victim's family).

On 6 October, two days before the Belgian municipal elections, Laurette Onkelinx was hit with a pie at an election event in Schaarbeek. The perpetrator was Benito Franscesconi, a 78-year-old man, who has a history of "civil disobiedence." Franscesconi has made himself a civil party to many court cases in which he had no direct interest.

First married to Abbès Guenned, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, she divorced him in 1997–1998, Morocco asked for his extradition, accusing him of drug trafficking (Guenned was stopped on 31 July 1997 at the airport of Zaventem, while being in the possession of a diplomatic passport), a charge which has since been dropped. He was also arrested in Turkey but released after strong influence from the Belgian government. At that time, Onkelinx was presiding over the government of Belgium's French Community. Onkelinx then married barrister Marc Uyttendaele. Witnesses to this marriage were both their former husband and wife. In 2003, Guenned became an adviser to Onkelinx' cabinet, charged with the preparation of the election of the Belgian advisory Muslim council, and dealing with town management but, especially, with the communication between the cabinet and the Islamic associations.

In 2009, she criticized Pope Benedict XVI over his comments that condoms distribution without prior education only worsen the AIDS crisis.

In 2014, it was revealed that her Ministry hired the firm of her own husband, Marc Uyttendaele, as a legal consultant, for a cost of 245,000 euros.

On September 13, 2017, Onkelincx announces not be a candidate for the 2019 elections.

Political career

First elected to the Belgian House of Representatives in 1988, she has held several ministerial posts without any interruption since 1992: