Amsterdam assassinations trial could lead to more killings: lawyers

The fact that the court decided to convict based on statements from key witnesses in a massive Amsterdam gang-assassinations trial last month, will lead to more assassinations, lawyers Christian Flokstra and Nico Meijering said to NRC.

Their client Dino Soerel was sentenced to life in prison last month in the so-called Passage process. The court found it proven that he ordered a number of assassinations. The statements of two key witnesses played an important part in the trial. The two witnesses, Peter la S. and Fred Ros, made a deal with the Public Prosecutor in which they received shorter sentences in exchange for their testimony.

Meijring believes that this will lead to more assassinations - there will be "preventative" killings to make sure someone doesn't talk to the Prosecutor, he said to NRC. The lawyer also worries that criminals will no longer fear life sentences, as they can later simply make a deal with the Prosecutor for a lower punishment.

According to the lawyer, the court "opened all the locks" by ruling the witness statements admissible. "As far as I'm concerned, this caused a new crisis in investigation", he said to the newspaper.