Bizarre European scandals are similar

They have been overshadowed by other international events but there are currently two European political scandals with strangely similar details.

France:
Convicted serial killer Patrice Al�gre is linked to the disappearances of over 100 women and young girls. It is alleged that he ran a child prostitution network that provided S&M orgies to members of law enforcement and local governments. The latest twist in the scandal is that there is some evidence that local officials used Alegre to murder a male prostitute who had evidence of the corruption. Latest article

Belgium:
The case of serial killer Marc Dutroux is riddled with missteps by the Belgian police and prosecutors leading some to believe that his long career is in part due to government support. Court TV's analysis of Dutroux's crimes
Accused of child pornography, child prostitution, torture and white slavery, Dutroux now claims that he is merely a small fish in a much larger pedophile ring. Dutroux's statements

Is anyone else disturbed by the similarities of these two stories? In both cases an apparent high-reaching scandal is being portayed as the work of two individuals. Dutroux was freed after serving only 8 years and immediately went back to kidnapping and torturing, apparently right under the nose of officials. Alegre appears to have setting up orgies inside government buildings! I'm not able to know how these stories are portrayed elsewhere but there should be far more outrage at the governments of these countries in the US. I believe the Dutroux case is very high profile in Belgium, but if anyone has information as to whether or not his claims are being taken seriously in the media, let me know.

Does anyone else know of similar stories such as this? Do you think these are just two guilty men attempting to blame their crimes on a conspiracy?

El_topo, yes, i posted a link on how the French government lets loose known criminals after having murdered, raped, and robed in several occasions, but I guess they don't want to compete with the US in having 1 out of 75 people, or worse in the case of France, in jail...

France and Germany both have been helping in genocides and done horrific things, "in recent times," that people are not even paying attention to. Most people prefer to go after the big wolf the US for trying to get rid of terrorism...

[Edited on 2-6-2004 by Muaddib]

The Marc Dutroux case had people marching in the streets.