Minister favors changing approach to life sentence pardon requests
Minister Franc Weerwind (Legal Protection) is in favor of handing over his power to grant pardons for life sentences to a special court. Experts believe this will make the process fairer and less subject to political pressures, according to the NOS.
After 25 years in prison, a life sentence can be reassessed and the minister of legal protection is allowed to determine if someone is eligible for a pardon. Weerwind currently has that power, but he is in favor of giving this choice to the judiciary instead.
Criminal Lawyer Sjanneke de Crom told the NOS this decision would be a “turning point.” It is especially relevant as the Public Prosecution Service (OM) hands out more life sentences than ever before.
"The judge is impartial and independent and a minister is not," De Crom said. "A minister is sensitive to political pressure. That is inherent in his profession."
Weerwind himself admitted to Nieuwsuur that the process can become “too political.” In the past, ministers have refused to give pardons when the surrounding trials were highly politicized. "That's why I say: put it to the experts,” Weerwind said.
However, some people are not satisfied with the minister’s other proposals surrounding life sentences. For example, Weerwind has suggested a period of five years of reintegration for people who are granted clemency. Detractors say this might make victims more uncertain about their security.
"There was a time when the judge pronounced 'you have a life sentence” and you really had a life sentence,” Jack Keijzer of the Federation of Relatives of Violent Victims told the NOS. “In other words: the relatives knew one thing: we will never meet 'our' perpetrator again."
