Alleged criminal kingpin Taghi's lawyer asks for acquittal in major assassinations trial

The lawyers of alleged criminal kingpin Ridouan Taghi believe that the Public Prosecution Service (OM) should never have prosecuted their client and that the court should therefore acquit him. “The OM asks the court to impose a life sentence on the basis of a one-sided, own scenario with a few fragments of texts pasted on top,” the lawyers said on Friday at the start of their plea in the high-security court in Amsterdam-Osdorp. Taghi was not present.

According to the OM, the evidence against 44-year-old Taghi consists largely of messages from encrypted phones, which the authorities managed to break into, in which various murders are discussed. But the defense argued that the judiciary obtained this data illegally - by intercepting an enormous bulk of data, also from people who have nothing to do with this criminal case. “Such a drastic measure is not justified and disproportionate,” said Inez Weski, one of Taghi’s lawyers.

The OM demanded life in prison against Taghi and four suspected accomplices at the end of June. Brothers Mario R. and Mao R. - also clients of Weski - also heard life in prison demanded against them.

Weski will need four days this month for their plea and probably as many days in December. After the lawyers of the 17 suspects in this case all made their plea, the OM and the lawyers will once again have time to respond to each other’s claims. The court will then reach a verdict in this trial, which has been dragging on for four years. When exactly that will happen is unclear.

The Marengo trial revolves around six murders and multiple attempted murders. The massive process, which started with the first pro-forma hearings in March 2018, is of unprecedented proportions for the Netherlands.

During this trial, the brother of crown witness Nabil B. was murdered, followed by his lawyer Derk Wiersum and his confidant Peter R. de Vries. These cases were tried separately and do not form part of Marengo. The case around De Vries’s murder is still ongoing.

The Marengo hearings are surrounded by extreme security measures, for which the army has also been deployed.