Prosecutor hands over protection of key witness' family after critical letter: report

Rutger Jeuken, the chief public prosecutor in Midden-Nederland, handed over responsibility for the protection of key witness Nabil B.’s family. His decision follows a “cry for help” one of B.’s relatives sent him last week. The relative wrote that the family is “not safe and doesn’t feel safe” as long as Jeuken remains responsible for their protection, Parool reports.

Nabil B. is the key witness in the Marengo trial against Ridouan Taghi and the drug-centered criminal organization allegedly around him. Since the Public Prosecution Service (OM) announced that B. had turned witness, Nabil B.’s brother Reduan, lawyer Derk Wiersum, and confidant Peter R de Vries have all been murdered.

B.’s family fears that “another innocent victim will fall under the care and responsibility” of Jeuken, the relative wrote on March 6. Parool knows his identity, but he asked the newspaper to keep him anonymous. “My family is not safe and does not feel safe under the direction of the current chief prosecutor in Midden-Nederland.”

The family doesn’t only fear threats from the Taghi organization, “but also you as the Public Prosecutor responsible for our safety.” According to the relative, Jeuken bears the responsibility for “all abuses, incidents, and security failures that have taken place in recent years involving relatives of Reduan and the key witness in the Marengo trial.” They pleaded for Jeuken to transfer the responsibility for their security “to a colleague or another authority.”

On March 1, the Dutch Safety Board published a report saying that the government had seriously failed to protect Reduan B., Wiersum, and De Vries. The OVV advised the government to remove authority over the Surveillance and Security system from the OM and organize it nationally.

On Friday afternoon, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) told Parool that Jeuken would hand over his duties in this regard. Another chief public prosecutor will handle the family’s security until the Surveillance and Security system falls under a national authority, as the OVV advised.