Laurent Merchiers

Laurent Merchiers was a Belgian liberal politician, lawyer, and a professor at the University of Ghent.
During the occupation of Belgium, working as an editor for the clandestine newspapers Vrij Nederland and Het Belfort, and was also a member of the Ghent Independence Front affiliated with the KPB. He was mayor of Ghent in a liberal-socialist coalition from 1953 to 1958. Laurent Merchiers was a member of parliament and senator, and minister of justice. He resigned as a minister after the Congo crisis.