Since Wednesday morning, excavations have taken place at a cemetery in the French city of Charleville-Mézières, a stone’s throw from the Belgian border, following a French lead in the investigation into the Gang of Nivelles. The excavations would take place at the request of the court of appeal in Bergen.
Journalist at HLN
Source: Belga
The Gang of Nijvel was a group of criminals who committed a series of murders and robberies between 1982 and 1985. A total of 28 people were killed and more than 40 injured.
The new lead in the investigation into the gang points to brothers Xavier and Thierry Sliman. The French gendarmerie already believed in the 1980s that they could be behind the Gang of Nijvel.
On Tuesday evening, the cemetery was closed by court order, said Quentin Clarin, the first deputy mayor of Charleville-Mézières.
Three bodies
On Wednesday, the bodies of Xavier Sliman, his mother and father were exhumed under the supervision of the investigating judge, among others. Samples were taken on site, in the hope of comparing them with evidence from the extensive Belgian file.
In June 2024, the federal public prosecutor’s office announced at an information meeting for the victims that the investigating judge had closed the investigation after about forty years, because no more useful investigative actions could be carried out. The civil parties still had the option to request additional investigation from the council chamber.
Gangster and his parents
At the end of 2025, the Bergen indictment chamber had ordered additional investigative acts, including the exhumations of Xavier Sliman and his parents.
LOOK. How does research into the Sliman brothers reveal?
Lawyer for the civil parties Patrick Ramaël has been asking for the option to be investigated for a long time. If the trail of the Slimans is confirmed, it will be “the scandal of the century” in Belgium, because the Belgian police suspected the two brothers as early as 1982, according to Ramaël.
Xavier and Thierry Sliman passed away in 2019 and 2011 respectively. Thierry Sliman was cremated.
