A Dutch court has convicted three men of murder for their roles in the 2021 shooting of an investigative reporter, Peter de Vries, on a busy Amsterdam street, a brazen attack that sent shock waves through the Netherlands.
The shooter, getaway driver and organiser of the attack were convicted of direct involvement in the killing. The shooter and driver were sentenced to 28 years, and the man who organised the killing to 26 years and one month.
The three demonstrated “unprecedented ruthlessness and unscrupulousness. Their actions and the recklessness they showed demonstrate that they do not care about human life,” the presiding judge at Amsterdam district court, Gert Oldekamp, said.
De Vries, 64, was shot on 5 July 2021 and died of his injuries nine days later.
Annemiek van Spanje, a lawyer for de Vries’ family, said they were satisfied with the judgment, but that “the bottom line is … it won’t bring back their father”.
In all, nine men were charged in connection with the murder. Three were convicted of complicity and were given sentences from 10-14 years. One man was convicted of drug possession but cleared of complicity in the murder. He was sentenced to four weeks.
Two were acquitted because they were charged only with involvement in a criminal organisation, and the judges said prosecutors had not proved the organisation’s existence.
A prosecution spokesperson, Justine Asbroek, welcomed the convictions.
Speaking outside the courthouse, she said: “We are happy that this criminal case has come to an end – at least for the time being. We are happy for the family that there is finally clarity about those involved in the murder.”
The full names of the suspects were not released, in line with Dutch privacy regulations.
Prosecutors had sought life sentences for the gunman, getaway driver and organiser and sentences from three to 21 years for the six other suspects.
The sentences were mainly shorter than requested because the court said prosecutors had not proven that the suspects were part of a criminal organisation, or that some had acted with a terrorist motive.
Asbroek said prosecutors were likely to appeal against that aspect of the verdicts.
De Vries’s murder caused outrage, grief and anger throughout the Netherlands, with the Dutch king, Willem-Alexander, called it “an attack on journalism, the cornerstone of our constitutional state and therefore also an attack on the rule of law”.
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The judge said the murder had “sent a shock wave through the Netherlands”.
De Vries had been an adviser and confidant for a protected witness in the trial of the alleged leader and other members of a crime gang. The witness’s brother and lawyer were both murdered.
The group’s top gangster, Ridouan Taghi, was convicted of his role in five gangland killings and sentenced to life behind bars in February. Judges called him the “undisputed leader” of a “murder organisation”.
Taghi has not been charged with involvement in the assassination of de Vries and prosecutors have not charged any suspects with ordering de Vries’s death.
“Whether Taghi was involved in the murder of Peter de Vries and what intention he may have had is expressly not up for assessment in this criminal case,” the judge said.
Earlier this year, Van Spanje lamented the fact that no suspect was on trial for ordering the murder. The family’s lawyer told the Associated Press: “The fact that the person who ordered the killing is not known and is not on trial here naturally hangs like a shadow over this trial.”
The shooter was arrested less than an hour after the attack, along with the getaway driver, a Polish man identified only as Kamil E. Prosecutors told judges at Amsterdam district court that the murder weapon was found in their car.