Damage fund for Covid riots compensation still not set up

RTL Nieuws reported that many rioters who caused millions of euros in damages during the anti-coronavirus demonstrations in January 2021 still have outstanding compensation payments. The government and insurers have to cover the compensation.

"For victims who have been counting on reimbursement for their damage in the foreseeable future, such an imposed payment is often a soap bubble," professor of sanctions law Henny Sackers said. The NS, for example, only received two thousand out of eighty thousand euros in compensation from a man for the destruction of a train station in Eindhoven during the riots.

Last January, riots broke out in several large cities after the government announced an evening curfew. Overall, only around 20 percent of the 312 sentenced rioters have to pay damage compensation.

After the riots on the Museumplein, 37 rioters were ordered to pay 16,000 euros to a damage fund for destroying state property and police cars. Seven other rioters were ordered to pay smaller damage claims.

Ultimately, the money never received the damage fund due to a mistake made by the Ministry of Justice. According to RTL Nieuws, the Ministry of Justice never created the fund due to "legal hurdles."

"The Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB) should collect these compensation fees from the perpetrators, but that fund is not there and that means the CJIB can't do anything with it," Sackers said.