previewIt is suspected that Ridouan Taghi is behind the assassination attempt on Peter R. de Vries. But while suspected shooter Delano G. can probably count on a prison sentence of decades, Taghi remains untouched in this case.
Delano G. must know that the cell will be his home for decades to come. Recently, the murderers of Derk Wiersum were sentenced to thirty years. Just because they hadn’t committed a murder before, it didn’t become a life sentence. And the fact that the judiciary has the right suspect in their hands with G. does not seem to matter much. Not only was the evidence of the preparations for the attacks not hidden away, the act itself in the center of Amsterdam was so visible that the perpetrator almost had to be caught.
The statement behind the murder quickly seemed clear: I strike where I want, when I want. Because the judiciary suspects that top criminal Ridouan Taghi is behind the attack. But that proof is not yet possible, while Taghi in fact turned the Netherlands upside down with his own hands, just like the police’s working method. The murder of the brother of star witness Nabil B. was already unprecedented and the way in which his lawyer Derk Wiersum was shot was shocking. But by the time Peter R. de Vries was shot dead, the police had already taken into account that everything is now possible in the Netherlands. “In the past, the police assumed predictability and imaginability when making scenarios. Now anything is possible,” said a source.
On the heels
Also that someone lends themselves to an assassination attempt such as on De Vries. In the middle of the city center of Amsterdam, the police emergency room could immediately, in real time, are watched with everything that happened in the Lange Leidsedwarsstraat and surroundings. For example, the police, with the help of the license plate of the getaway car, quickly followed G.. Polish Pawel E. drove him at a decent pace from the spot, where Peter R. De Vries fought for his life, grabbed a bystander’s hand, emergency services transported him to hospital and heavily armed police officers rushed to guard him. Two similarly dressed men had filmed the attack, presumably to give the murder statement extra impact. The images immediately came online.
How is it possible that Delano G. did this? That whole story will probably not come out during the trial. If only because Taghi’s motto is well known – whoever talks, goes. In addition, hitmen, as G. is presumed, invariably invoke their right to remain silent. There is talk about vulnerable boys from deprived neighborhoods who have a mild intellectual disability and want to earn money quickly. That may reveal something about the background of suspects, but nothing about their real motives, says criminologist Marijke Drogt. “I think that conclusions are drawn too easily. A boy who fits that profile may also have a conscience, but what really makes them go into something like a liquidation? The suspects in these cases rarely open up, sometimes talk a little or only about their own role. They rely partly or completely on their right to remain silent. They may also be under enormous pressure to do something. But it continues to speculate.”
guessing
It also remains a mystery to the client. Because although Taghi is mentioned within investigative circles, it is still questionable how he managed exactly that – if he actually gave the order for the murder of De Vries. Unlike at the time of the murder of Derk Wiersum, he was in detention. His cousin and lawyer Youssef Taghi was recently arrested for misusing his access as a lawyer to smuggle information from the maximum-security prison in Vught. But while drug trafficking and planning an escape attempt are linked to the lawyer, the murder of Peter R. de Vries has not been mentioned.
The investigative services do hope that they can eventually link Ridouan Taghi to the murder of De Vries. “It is also about reparation for the relatives and to get a clear picture of the network. It is important to get clarity,” said a police source. That will not detract from Taghi’s punishment. It is likely that he will be sentenced to life in prison. But that does not mean that the police are not keen on being able to prove who the mastermind behind the murder of De Vries is.
Response Inez Weski, lawyer Taghi:
In fact, the article deals with the will of the investigative services and the public to regard the client as the perpetrator in any case, even though there is no evidence for this to date. A situation that must be considered contrary to any investigative rule about an open investigation with an eye for the legal system and the presumption of innocence. A situation that will often never produce the truth.
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