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Police officer in front of the courthouse in Amsterdam
Photo:
Peter Dejong / AP
In the summer of 2021, the famous Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries was gunned down on the street in Amsterdam.
The trial against nine suspects has now begun in Amsterdam.
In the strictly guarded high-security court, the defendants have to answer for murder or aiding and abetting murder.
The indictment also accuses seven of them of forming a criminal organization with terrorist intent.
The murder is said to be the work of a notorious drug gang.
The alleged perpetrator and the driver of the getaway car are in court for the second time in the case.
Her trial had to be repeated for procedural reasons.
De Vries was gunned down at the age of 64.
He later died from his serious injuries.
The crime severely shocked the country.
After the crime, two main suspects were arrested.
There are indications that notorious criminal Ridouan Taghi's drug gang may be responsible for the murder.
A key witness had taken de Vries into his confidence at the time.
The key witness testified in the extensive criminal trial against Taghi and his accomplices.
The key witness's brother and defense attorney had previously been murdered.
Seven other men were arrested in the course of the investigation into the clients.
But there wasn't enough evidence against the Taghi gang.
The public prosecutor's office had already demanded life imprisonment against the suspected shooter and the driver of the getaway car in 2022.
Sentencing was then suspended as new evidence emerged.
Then the court decided to repeat the trial after a judge moved abroad.
The alleged organizer of the murder and two men who are said to have filmed the crime and distributed the images on the Internet are now also indicted.
This was intended to increase the shock in society, as the indictment said.
A verdict is expected in June.
kha/dpa