Disciplinary punishments
Free from all reproach? We can’t really say that about this elite volunteer (his rank is the highest among rank-and-file soldiers) who joined the army in 1992 and is heavily committed to punishment. His file reveals that his thirty-year career is punctuated by sanctions which were repeated at a sustained pace.
In 2012, the soldier was suspended for one month. The measure follows previous punishments to which is added a judgment from the Marche criminal court where the person concerned was prosecuted for contempt of police inspectors.
Rebelote four years later: on April 25, 2016, a new disciplinary measure “temporarily removes from his job” the person who, in Marche, occupies the position of driver.
There was a gangster among the para-commandos!
The file sent to Ludivine Dedonder
And it goes on and on. On November 23, 2023, the Dinant police court convicted him of causing a driving accident with the dual circumstance that he was under the influence of alcohol and that a person was injured.
The date is a turning point. It was on this day that the military authorities opened their eyes, suddenly realizing that the corporal had already received 12 criminal convictions before 2013, including 7 for driving under the influence of drink, a thirteenth in 2022 for speeding and of it. Fourteen in total, including nine for driving, including drunk driving. And until then, no one in the army had reacted.
In Marche, the head of the unit took up the problem, asked the prosecution to communicate the 14 judgments to him and transmitted the file to the minister – at the time, Ludivine Dedonder.
After examination by its services, it informed the corps commander of its intention to have the 1st master corporal appear before an investigative council. The question is now asked to determine whether the corporal “can maintain his military status” or not.
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Théo Francken tranche
When the investigative council looks into the case, it is March 2025 and Théo Francken has just succeeded Ms. Dedonder.
On March 12, 2025, the investigative council considered that the facts “are serious” and “incompatible with military status”. If he does not discern any mitigating circumstances, he considers, on the other hand, that aggravating circumstances must be taken into account.
In the end, however, one member of the investigative council recommended permanent termination of employment, with the other four advocating that it be set aside for 90 days.
The decision falling to the minister, Théo Francken opted, in September, for the definitive withdrawal of employment. After thirty-three years of career, the 1st master corporal is placed on permanent leave, five years from retirement.
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Twenty-five years
Was the disciplinary procedure, however, regular in form? What will raise questions is the fact that the military authority sanctioned in 2025 legal convictions relating for the most part, with the exception of the judgments pronounced in 2022 and 2023, to old facts that occurred between 1998 and 2016.
Exceeding reasonable deadlines: this is the argument developed at the Council of State by Me Carine Flamend. The specialist lawyer thus calculates that 223 days passed between the moment when Minister Dedonder announced her intention to have her client appear before the board of inquiry and the date on which the appearance actually took place.
In the details of the judgment, the Council of State recalls that any disciplinary procedure “must be treated as an urgent matter, especially when the proposed sanction is one of the heaviest provided for”. In this case, dismissal.
Tribute to Corporal Coquette, forgotten hero of 40-45
The Council of State followed the argument and the request for suspension was favorably received. At this stage, the annulment procedure – which will have to rule on the merits of the case – is still pending before the administrative court.
But the general public thus learns that it took 14 convictions since 1998, including 9 in the area of driving (drunk driving, accident with injuries, etc.), for us to finally be concerned about the driving skills and the inclination to drink of a career volunteer whose job consists of driving military vehicles which, like civilians, also use the road network.
