Belgian judge frees thief because of crowded jails

Belgium's justice minister criticised a judge Friday for letting a thief walk free this week because of prison overcrowding. Judge Walter De Smedt had discovered that the thief was never jailed after he gave him an 18-month prison term in March for a different theft.

De Smedt said Thursday sentencing the man for a new theft was "pointless" because he will not be jailed since Belgian prisons are overcrowded.

Justice minister Stefaan De Clerck said it was wrong to let a criminal "who is manifestly guilty walk free."

"I need (no judge) to tell me" there is an overcrowding problem, De Clerck said.

The Antwerp court where De Smedt hears his cases also chided the judge. A court spokesperson said "the court distances itself from this ruling," adding a courtroom was no place to make statements about the Belgian justice system.

The prison overcrowding problem has become so acute that the government signed an agreement this month with neighbouring country the Netherlands under which many hundreds of Belgian inmates will be moved into Dutch prisons.