Prosecutor accused of "character assassination" in politician corruption case

The Public Prosecutor committed "character murder" against former Roermond alderman Jos van Rey in the corruption case against him, Van Rey's lawyer Gitte Stevens said in court on Monday. According to the lawyer, the Prosecutor jumped the gun in the case and then could not retreat when there was no evidence against her client, the Volkskrant reports. "The Public Prosecutor thought he would discover a massive bribery scandal and could not or would not turn back afterwards. That is the only reason we are all here", the lawyer. Stevens called the evidence against her client "thin" and accused the Prosecutor of using "populist terminology". "To err is human, but to persist in error is stupid", she said. "And that's what this whole case is: in one word, stupid." The lawyer compared the Prosecutor's actions to the Turrialba volcanic eruption in the Costa Rican capital of San Jose last weekend. "In a similar way, the Prosecutor covered my client with a ruthless and scorching lava flow of insinuations, innuendos and creative and tendentious descriptions." Jos van Rey is facing chargers of corruption, money laundering, election fraud and leaking confidential information. Two weeks ago the Public Prosecutor demanded he get two years in prison.