The two farmers who were arrested on Monday evening on suspicion of blocking the highway and dumping waste on the A50 near Beekbergen, were released on Friday afternoon by order of the examining magistrate of the Gelderland court.
The judge rules that pre-trial detention can be suspended due to “personal circumstances of the suspects”. The suspects, a 39-year-old man from Klarenbeek and a 35-year-old man from Eerbeek, must report to the probation service.
The public prosecutor wanted the farmers, who were arrested during violent farmers' protests, to remain in custody longer. The Public Prosecution Service and the police agreed last Wednesday that they will take stricter action against violent and illegal demonstrators.
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Tensions
The detention of the two farmers led to rising tensions in the region. The mayor of Apeldoorn, Ton Heerts, was forced to announce an emergency order for the entire municipality on Wednesday evening. With this order, the police can take action against rioters, close roads, evacuate places and ban gatherings. People who do not cooperate can be arrested. The special order measure was deemed necessary because the police determined through chat groups of farmers on social media channels that a storming of the headquarters in Apeldoorn was being planned. That liberation action failed to materialize.
Lawyer Pieter Pel from Hattem, who represents the 39-year-old suspected farmer, says that the farmers have been released because they both have to run a busy dairy farm. “My client works seventy to eighty hours a week and his wife also has a job to keep her head above water. A very young company is at risk if you keep this man any longer.”
Because “the action was nearby”, the suspected farmer, according to his lawyer, had found the time to block a highway on Monday evening, despite the busy work. “The police do speak of coordinated actions, but my client was simply called up in an app group and did not know what he was getting himself into. It's not all that well-oiled.”
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