Court reopens De Vries murder trial after new details surface

One month after prosecutors called for an Amsterdam court to impose life sentences on two men accused of killing Peter R. de Vries, the court said it needs to reopen the case before a verdict can be handed down. The court said on Wednesday that the Public Prosecution Service filed new documents related to the case on July 5, which were shared with the attorneys representing Delano G. and Kamil E., the two defendants.

“The court concludes from the accompanying email from the Public Prosecution Service that the examination was not complete. The court is therefore forced to reopen the examination in order to be able to weigh the importance of the content of the new documents, and to give the defense and the Public Prosecution Service the opportunity to respond to the documents,” the court said in a statement.

Both men are accused of participating in a plot to gun down the journalist as he walked to his car in the Leidseplein area. G. is alleged to have shot De Vries, while E. is believed to have been the getaway driver. The two mainly remained silent from the time they were placed into custody shortly after the shooting on July 6, 2021, and through their court proceedings, which officially closed on June 30.

However, just in the past week, authorities have arrested four more people in connection with the case. One of the men, Krystian M., is from Poland, like Kamil E. Two other Dutch men were arrested, one in Curacao and the other in Spain. The arrest of another individual was reported by the Telegraaf, but was not confirmed by the prosecution.

The new hearing will be held in Amsterdam on Monday at 10 a.m., and another hearing may follow on July 14. The verdict was originally supposed to be issued on July 14.