Laurette Onkelinx

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Laurette Onkelinx (born October 2, 1958) is a Belgian politician from the Socialist Party. She is the current Minister of Justice and Vice-Prime Minister in the Belgian federal government.

First elected to the Belgian House of Representatives in 1988, she has since held several minister posts:

Minister of Social Integration, Public Health and Environment (1992-1993)
Minister-President and Minister of the Civil Service, Child's healthcare and Promotion of Health in the French Community (1993-1995)
Minister-President and Minister of Education, Media, Youth, Child's healthcare and Promotion of Health in the French Community(1995-1999)
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour (1999 - 2003)
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Transport(2003)
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice (July 2003 - current)

She is considered to be the most powerful woman in Belgian politics and viewed as a potential successor to the Parti socialiste's chairperson Elio Di Rupo. 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 older brother, Alain Onkelinx, is since September 2005 member of the Regional Parliament of Wallonia.

When Turkish terrorist Fehriye Erdal was sentenced to 4 year imprisonment by a Bruges court on February 28, 2006, it turned out that she had shaken off the Belgian secret service, which had the responsibility of following her since February 23, 2006 (Erdal had been on 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 CD&V and Vlaams Belang demanded the resignation of both of them on March 6, 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 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 have 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 September 23, 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 October 6, 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 with Abbès Guenned, an Arab who became a Belgian through his marriage, she divorced from him after, in 1997-1998, Morroco asked for his extradition, accusing him of drug traffic (Guenned was taken into custody on July 31, 1997 at the airport of Zaventem, while being in the possession of an illegal diplomatic passport). At that time, Onkelinx was presiding the government of Belgium's French Community. To avoid further scandals, Laurette divorced from him; after only one month, the divorce had officially been settled, probably the fastest divorce procedure Belgium ever had. Onkelinx remarried with the barrister Marc Uyttendaele. Witnesses to this marriage were both their former husband and wive. 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.