In 2018, 42,000 complaints were filed in Belgium concerning partner violence.

As many as 23,000 of these were dropped. This is shown by figures collected by Mp Kathleen Bury (Flemish Interest) on the basis of a performance in the Committee of Social Emancipation by experts Sylvie Lausberg and Magda De Meyer. The party cites the figures after a young woman was honoured in Linkebeek by her ex-partner and the family of murdered Julie Van Espen Justice called for the order. "We want a firm policy, effective prosecutions and no buy-off policy by the berets", sounds at the Flemish Interest.On Thursday morning Fanny Appes was stabbed by her ex-partner in Linkebeek. Luckily, she didn't let life go, but Fanny hit a cry for help on social media last month. Worryingly, the Flemish Interest finds, especially shortly after the family of Julie Van Espen (23) sent an open letter to all party chairmen with a compelling call to work on a less lax justice system." That poor girl in Linkebeek could have been helped much earlier!"" Victims of partner violence need to be taken more seriously, not sent from the locker to the wall until dramas happen!", says Bury. "The cry for help from that poor girl who was stabbed in Linkebeek could be picked up much earlier, but people like her are not believed and the perpetrators continue to walk around." Earlier this week, the Flemish Interest announced that it is working on some bills to increase sentences for sex offenders. This is following the letter from Julie Van Espen's family.