A Belgian court has ordered the release of serial killer Freddy Horion, 78, from prison under electronic monitoring, ending one of the longest periods of incarceration in the country's history. The criminal court in Ghent ruled that Horion, who has spent 46 years behind bars, will be transferred to a forensic care centre where he will be fitted with an ankle bracelet and held to strict conditions. He is prohibited from any contact with the families of his victims.

Horion was convicted in 1980 and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of six people. On 9 February 1979, he killed Hélène Lichachevski, a shopkeeper in Ghent, a city in northern Belgium. Then, on 23 June 1979, Horion and his accomplice Roland Feneulle murdered five members of the Steyaert family — a car dealer and his relatives — in Sint-Amandsberg, a district on the eastern edge of Ghent. Feneulle died in prison in 2013. Horion has filed numerous requests for early release over the past two decades, all of which were rejected until now. As far back as 2018, an expert panel concluded he could leave prison but should not return directly to society, recommending placement in a forensic psychiatric facility as an intermediate step.

The release has caused deep distress among surviving relatives. Johan Steyaert, whose brother Roland was among those killed, described the moment he received the news as shattering.