Laurent Louis | |
---|---|
member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives | |
In office 13 June 2010 – 25 May 2014 |
|
Monarch |
Albert II Philippe |
Personal details | |
Born |
Nivelles, Belgium |
29 February 1980
Political party | Debout Les Belges! |
Laurent Louis (born 29 February 1980) is a French-speaking Belgian politician and former member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives. He is known for taking anti-zionist positions but is accused of anti-semitic speeches and actions and for spreading rumors about other public figures.
On 17 June 2014, Louis received a suspended sentence of 8 months in prison for slander relating to accusations of pedophilia he had made against public figures. In June 2015 he got a suspended 6-month sentence for infringing the 1995 Belgian anti-negationism law and lost his right to run for office in the next six years. He filed an appeal.
Louis began his parliamentary career as a member of the conservative People's Party, led by Belgian Jewish politician Mischaël Modrikamen, from which he was expelled after a few months in office. In 2011 he created a new political party, the Mouvement pour la liberté et la démocratie, which he dissolved in January 2013 in favor of the disappearance of all political parties.
He then joined the Islamist Belgian party Islam (Belgian political party) . He soon had a falling out with them although he continued to claim to be the party's president, with a spokesman for the party noting, "We had been warned that he was not a stable person, but had decided to give him a chance."
In late 2013, Louis founded a movement called Belgians, Rise Up! (Debout Les Belges! ). As of April 2014, it was said to be riven by internal conflict, and after the May 2014 Belgian federal elections, Louis announced that he was dissolving his party, which had received less than 1% of votes and would thus not receive any seat either at the federal or regional levels.