Lifetime. It sounded three times on Wednesday in the heavily secured court in Amsterdam-Osdorp. Life sentence for Delano G., who allegedly shot Peter R. de Vries. For Kamil E., who would have been the driver as co-executor. And for Krystian M., who would have controlled the whole thing like a murder broker. If the justice system has its way, the three men will never be released.
Because, the public prosecutor emphatically argued, a clear and crystal clear signal must be sent to people who want to be tempted to kill someone for money. Sentences of up to 21 years in prison were demanded against six other suspects.
The demands were made on the fourth day of the trial over the attack on crime reporter De Vries in July 2021. The case is partly a repeat, justice had already demanded life in prison against the two executors in 2022. But the case had to be restarted because a new witness emerged and one of the judges moved abroad. Seven more suspects were arrested, who are said to have played various roles.
On all hearing days, the contrast between the attitude of the men present and the consequences of the act of which they are suspected is striking. The enormous impact of the murder of Peter R. de Vries on society is difficult to reconcile with the behavior of several suspects at the hearing. Some keep a hood on their head. All suspects continually invoke their right to remain silent, even after seemingly simple questions – for example where they went to school. And when the public prosecutor is about to hear the sentencing demands, several suspects stand up because they have to go to the toilet.
Organized connection
The name of top criminal Ridouan Taghi also appears in the investigation. Peter R. de Vries was a confidante of key witness Nabil B. in the Marengo trial against Taghi. The judiciary has established that De Vries was murdered because of that role, as was the case with the lawyer and B's brother.
The file also appears to refer to Taghi as the client and members of the organization are said to be involved in the abuse of an ex-brother-in-law of Taghi. But Taghi is not a suspect in the case about the murder of Peter R. de Vries.
According to the judiciary, these suspects on trial in Amsterdam formed an organized criminal group, in which each had their own role. It is suspected that preparations started in April 2021; From that moment on, Krystian M. is said to have looked for someone who could shoot a journalist because he was working with a key witness. M. would do this for a Moroccan man, whom he would call 'uncle' “out of respect”. A car is stolen, and preliminary investigations are made. Suspects follow Peter R. de Vries when he is a guest RTL Boulevard.
Initially, according to justice, the plan seemed to be to shoot Peter R. de Vries a day earlier, on July 5, 2021. That day the getaway car starts moving, and weapons are supposed to be collected. But De Vries will not be a guest at Boulevard on July 5. After that day, one of the alleged executors, the Pole Konrad W., drops out. Krystian W. then allegedly arranged a new executor: Delano G. Justice assumes that Krystian W. would have needed a 106-second telephone conversation on the day of the attack to have Delano do the job. The Public Prosecution Service called this a “disconcerting and telling” conclusion.
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The reopened trial over the murder of Peter R. de Vries is the same and different
A good picture of the day of the attack on De Vries can be sketched, based on camera images and mutually exchanged messages. These messages become euphoric in tone when it turns out that Peter R. de Vries has been shot. Delano G. is said to have said that the bullet went “right through their heads” (sic) and that he shot “4/5x”. If Krystian M. asks if he is sure, the answer would be: “Yes, bro. His eyes were open.”
Client
In addition to the three suspects for whom life sentences are being sought, the justice department also wants the other suspects to go to jail for a longer period of time. Gerower C. and Erickson O. should be given 21 years in prison by the judiciary for preliminary reconnaissance and filming De Vries after his death. Konrad W. is being sentenced to 17 years due to a facilitating role. Pre-scout Ludgardo C. has to go to prison for 14 years, Divainy K. 8 years for directing the filmmakers. The Public Prosecution Service is demanding 3 years in prison against Christopher W.
Lawyer Vito Shukrula of Erickson O. thinks that it appears that the judiciary wants to enforce increasingly higher sentences to ensure that these types of liquidations are no longer carried out. An illusion according to him. “These types of guys don't think: last week I read that someone will get a long sentence for this, then I'm not going to do it. The pool of these types of guys from which to fish is simply large. They think about money and things they can buy with it.”
Kamil E.'s lawyer, Alexander Admiraal, denounced the high demands in court on Wednesday and said that the hardening of the criminal climate “is indescribable”.
The lawyer for the children and ex-wife of De Vries, Annemiek van Spanje, says that she supports the criminal justice demands of the Public Prosecution Service. The surviving relatives wonder whether the level of the sentences will have consequences on the street. “Coincidentally, we were just talking about it: Peter R. de Vries himself always had the idea that the boys who are capable of these types of crimes do think about whether or not they will be caught, but not about the punishment they will receive in addition to the head hangs. If that is true, I have a gloomy outlook.”
The suspects showed little outward response to the demands. Krystian M. kept his hood up. Their lawyers will respond in the coming days. On Wednesday afternoon, Kamil E.'s lawyers argued that suspects would have felt heavy pressure and that there are doubts about the reliability of the new witness. They asked for an acquittal for complicity in the murder. The verdict is expected in June.
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