Belgian War Grave Vivy

The grave of Jean PIERLOT is located in the Vivy cemetery:

"Reminder of
Jean PIERLOT
Adjutant in the National Guard
Political prisoner
from 26-7-1940
Died in Spa
on 24-4-1944
at the age of 41 years"

At least five trials took place in occupied Belgium between January and July 1941
Belgian soldiers and gendarmes on a prisoner transport in May 1940
guided. They are all charged with assault and battery
Reich Germans. Although the facts occurred in an area not yet known
the Germans had been conquered, the courts-martial nevertheless declared themselves competent for the prosecution. The condition is that at least one of the victims Holds German nationality.

On January 6, 1941, three Belgian gendarmes, including Jean Pierlot, were put on trial in Brussels for 'Gefangenemishandlung'.
The occupying forces suspect them of beating German prisoners on May 15, 1940 during a transport from Bruges to Béthune. He was already arrested for this on July 26, 1940.
Gendarmerie Jean Pierlot receives a two-year sentence for deliberately beating and wounding the German lay brother Ludwig Wächter.
His two colleagues are released because the court-martial cannot determine with certainty weter the abused were German citizens.