No Surrender founder gets six years in prison

The court in Breda sentenced Klaas Otto, founder of outlaw motorcycle gang No Surrender, to six years in prison on Thursday. He was found guilty of extortion, assaulting and threatening two car dealers, and laundering 1.3 million euros, NOS reports.

The court was appalled by the violent crimes Otto was charged with. "He forced his victims with brute force to give him large amounts of money and vehicles. One of the victims was beaten with a cane, locked in a cage and threatened with the rape of his wife by members of the defendant's motorcycle club", the court said. "Another victim sustained permanent injury in an assault and was told that the ears of his children would be cut off."

The court concluded that there was an "atmosphere of fear" around Otto. A large proportion of called witnesses did not dare to testify against him.

Otto was charged with arson, extortion, assault and threats. The sentence against the 51-year-old man is lower than the 10 years the Public Prosecutor demanded because, "among other things, arson and the detonation of a hand grenade could not be proven", the court said. The court also took into account that Otto himself was a victim of a shooting and "has been in a heavy detention regime for too long". Otto was in custody for around 18 months on suspicion that he threatened a prosecutor. But according to the judge, this was not sufficiently proven.