His response was to stalk the officers for a month on Facebook. (To be fair, he was also on trial for trying to run over a parking warden, so the social network harassment wasn't entirely to blame for his year-long sentence.)

Now something similar is happening to heavyweight lawyer Jef Vermassen. Flanders' most high-visibility lawyer most recently represented the family of the victim in the notorious parachute murder. The jury followed his closing statements 100% down the line and brought in a verdict of murder despite the absence of any material evidence.

That victory brought considerable unease to many quarters. On Facebook, it gave rise to a number of groups expressing dissatisfaction with Vermassen. The groups concerned were sarcastic and comical, as well as outraged and strongly critical, but generally stayed within the bounds of robust public discourse.

According to legal experts, Vermassen, a media-savvy operator, cannot expect the level of polite respect that would be accorded to any normal person whose work was not constantly in the public eye, like the two Aarschot policemen. Public figures need to be able to swallow a little public criticism from time to time, the law argues.

Then came the death threats. Vermassen reported that things had gone too far and filed an official complaint. The exact details are unclear, as is the question of whether the threats emanated from the Facebook onslaught. In any event, he had the Facebook groups, now characterised as "hate groups", taken down.

Critics point out that if accusing a defendant in court of having a "black soul" is all right, then parodying the accuser as "Showbiz Jef " should probably be OK, too.