CHARLEVILLE-MEZIERES (France), March 27: A self-confessed serial killer dubbed the “Ogre of the Ardennes” went on trial on Thursday for raping and murdering seven young women with the help of his wife. Michel Fourniret, 65, has admitted killing seven women and girls over a 14-year period from 1987 to 2001. He operated mainly in the Ardennes region of northern France and Belgium.

His wife, Monique Olivier, 59, is accused of taking part in one of the murders and supporting Fourniret in four others. She said she acted under the influence of her husband.

If convicted, they face life imprisonment.

Described by investigators as narcissistic, authoritarian and manipulative, Fourniret appeared in court, wearing glasses and a blue pullover, after saying he might not attend the trial.

However, he refused to speak after his request to hold a closed hearing was rejected.

Instead he held up a sign reading: “Without a closed hearing, sealed lips.”

Olivier, looking tired, also appeared in court and did not look at her husband. Lawyers said they expected Fourniret would eventually give evidence.

“This carry-on is insufferable given the seriousness of the facts,” Didier Seban, one of the lawyers representing victims’ families, told reporters. “But he’ll end up talking. He always has to be right.”

The couple, linked by what prosecutors call a “criminal pact”, became acquainted after Fourniret placed an advertisement for correspondents while serving a prison sentence for sex crimes in the 1980s.

In addition to the cases being tried this week, Fourniret is suspected of a number of other killings, including that of 20-year-old British woman Joanna Parrish in 1990.

More than 300 journalists are attending the trial, which is expected to last two months, in a specially adapted courtroom just across the border from where Belgian serial child rapist Marc Dutroux was convicted in 2004.—Reuters