Prosecutor fighting journalists with fake airport IDs

The Attorney-General in The Hague has, in an appeal, demanded a fine against journalists from the programme 'Undercover Nederland'. 

A total sum €1000 has been demanded, out of which €500 is directed at two journalists from the programme.

During one of the broadcasts from the show, the safety at Schiphol-Oost was brought to attention. For the report, both journalists trespassed into prohibited areas, and forged KLM access passes to get through the control.

The passes were not used to get around the access control, however.

Both reporters were cleared of all court prosecutions for their crimes  on 28 April 2011. The court found it to be of social importance to show safety risks, which outweighed the dishonesty in writing and entering prohibited areas.

The Public Prosecutor filed an objection against this decision. One of the journalists must still pay a fine of €500 for still being in possession of the fake access pass after the broadcast.

The Public Prosecution thinks that the journalists committed crimes and must be punished for these. "In any case it's clear that journalists are not allowed to commit dishonesty in writing. If they do, then they can be punished by law."

"The crimes committed by the suspects are serious. Not only did they commit these crimes themselves, also another (a KLM-employee) has been involved by convincing this person to release his KLM-pass to use it for the forging of a false pass" the Public Prosecution Service said.