Suspects allegedly followed journalist De Vries weeks before killing him

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) added the charge of reconnaissance against one of the suspects in the murder of crime writer Peter R. de Vries. According to the OM, Kamil E. (35) followed De Vries on the evening of June 23, after he appeared on the RTL program Boulevard. The crime writer was shot after a similar performance on July 6 last year.

The OM made this announcement at the third interim hearing against E. and co-defendant Delano G. (22). E. attended the hearing. G. remained in his cell and was represented by his two lawyers.

According to the OM, G. was the shooter, and E. was the getaway driver in De Vries' assassination. They were arrested on the A4 highway a few hours after De Vries was gunned down on Lange Leidsedwarsstraat in Amsterdam as he walked from the RTL studio to the parking garage where his car was parked. De Vries succumbed to his injuries in hospital nine days after the attack. The murder sent huge shock waves throughout the Netherlands.

E. was caught on surveillance cameras following De Vries on June 23. Recordings show him walking onto Lange Leidsedwarsstraat via Prisengracht and Leidsestraat. He walked behind the RTL Boulevard studio and followed De Vries as he walked to the parking garage. When De Vries was in the parking garage, E. looked inside, according to the OM. 

The OM quoted messages the two suspects exchanged in the run-up to the assassination. "The ease and coolness with which they speak about life and death paint a macabre picture," the prosecutor said. An as yet unknown person (referred to by the judiciary as NN-man) sent a picture of De Vries writing, among other things: "You must get this dog." G replied: "Bro, I'll shoot that kk thing right through his kk body." "Kk" is slang spelling for "kanker" or "cancer in English - a common insult in the Netherlands. 

Detectives found another message from G. on a phone found in the suspects' car "Bro, that bullet went right through his head. Twice. Everything shot. Nice." According to the OM, these texts underline the complete unscrupulousness with which the suspects acted.

The Amsterdam court wants to try this criminal case on June 7 and 15. The verdict is scheduled for July 7.