Prosecutor ordered to investigate arrest of Anne Faber's killer
The Public Prosecution Service must conduct further investigation into the way in which Michael P. was arrested in the Anne Faber case on 9 October 2017, the court in Amsterdam ruled on Wednesday. The Public Prosecutor previously determined that the officers that arrested P. will not be prosecuted for a soldier injury he sustained during his arrest. P.'s lawyer filed a lawsuit demanding further investigation, NU.nl reports.
The Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruled in favor of P.'s lawyers on Wednesday. "The State must carry out exhaustive investigations, but that has not yet happened in this case; too many questions are still unanswered", the court said in its ruling. The court referred to the fact that Dutch law stipulates that no one may be subjected to torture, punishment or inhumane or degrading treatment. "This is a basic principle of the Dutch constitutional state."
25-year-old Anne Faber disappeared while on a bike ride on 29 September 2017. Her body was found 13 days later, after P. told the police where to look.
When P. was arrested the police and judiciary thought that Faber may still be alive. Members of the arrest team therefore exerted pressure on P. to get him to reveal her whereabouts, according to NU.nl. His handcuffed hands were pulled about and a muzzled police dog was held to his face. Five police officers were identified as directly involved in the arrest.
The Amsterdam court wants the Public Prosecution Service to investigate whether the five police officers were instructed to physically pressure P. and whether the instructions they received were "clear enough for the arrest team."
The fact that the Prosecution now has to investigate the arrest again does not automatically mean that the arrest team involved will be prosecuted. If the investigation reveals they did nothing wrong, the case can be dismissed.
This new investigation will also have no influence on P.'s sentence. Earlier this month he was sentenced on appeal to 28 years in prison and institutionalized psychiatric treatment for abducting, raping and killing Anne Faber. The court in Arnhem did not reduce his sentence because of the way in which he was arrested, because the court believed this should be dealt with in a separate case.
