The District Court of Amsterdam sentenced the murderers of lawyer Derk Wiersum on Monday to the longest fixed term imprisonment possible in the Dutch legal system. Giërmo B., 37 years old, and Moreno B., 32, are both imprisoned for thirty years. "With their brutal act, the men have shown a complete lack of respect for the life of another," said the court in support of the statement. To make matters worse, it was a contract killing which "caused great outrage, unrest and insecurity in society because a servant of the rule of law was killed". The punishment was intended to deter others from acting as contract killers for payment, it said. An indefinite life imprisonment, as requested by the public prosecutor,therefore out of the question because it was a single murder.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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Derk Wiersum was shot in front of his house in September 2019. At the time, he was the lawyer for key witness Nabil B. in the proceedings against drug lord Ridouan Taghi. Investigators suspect that Taghi ordered the act out of revenge, but tactical reasons did not result in him being charged in the trial. Taghi is already on trial in the so-called Marengo trial for further planned, attempted and actually carried out contract killings. In the Wiersum case, the court only held that the act had been commissioned to “intimidate” the key witness and his immediate surroundings. The key witness's brother had previously been murdered. It is believed that the murder of journalist Peter R. de Vries in July of this year is also related to the case. De Vries had acted as Nabil B's confidante.

The attorney's murder was monitored by witnesses and a surveillance camera. However, it was not possible in the proceedings to identify which of the two men had shot at Wiersum and who had driven the getaway car. In the opinion of the court, however, there was no difference in the assessment of the sentence. "After all, the actions of the two suspects show that they were together out to kill Wiersum," it was said to justify. DNA traces of both men had been found in the getaway car.

Telecommunications data also revealed that they were near the crime scene at the time of the crime.

After the killing, they suddenly had large amounts of cash.

On top of that, intercepted conversations proved their involvement in the case.

The court ruled out that it was a robbery or kidnapping that got out of hand;

the defense had brought these scenarios into play as possibilities.

The perpetrators themselves did not make a statement in court.

Planned outbreak in the Taghi case?

There is also news in the Taghi case. Last Friday, his cousin and lawyer Youssef T. was arrested during a visit to Vught maximum security prison. According to the prosecution, intercepted communications showed that both were planning a "violent escape" - either from the prison itself or from the high security court where the Marengo trial is taking place. Attorney T. is also said to have helped his client and relatives to continue the drug business out of prison. "There is also evidence that Taghi was after the addresses of prison workers," said chief prosecutor John Lucas.

T. has been part of the Taghis defense team since March, along with his lawyer Inez Weski and two other lawyers. He had already asked for free access to Taghi in December 2020, but the public prosecutor lodged a complaint with the responsible bar association. She suspected that T. was misusing a phone that he could use to talk to Taghi on a confidential basis.

However, the complaint was rejected, after which he was able to take up his mandate.

According to Lucas, they both spent "many dozen hours" together in prison.

In the summer, the suspicion arose that T. was abusing his role and providing ambassadorial services for Taghi, said the chief prosecutor.

Thereupon the bar association agreed to an observation of the lawyer, during which he was also wiretapped.

Based on these findings, he was arrested on Friday and investigators ransacked his office and Taghi's cell.