Half of Dutch judges, prosecutors have been threatened: survey

More than half of the Netherlands’ 2,500 judges and 900 public prosecutors have faced threats or intimidation, often during a case they handled. A third of these cases involved organized crime, research platform Investico and magazine De Groene Amsterdammer report after surveying members of the Dutch Association for the Judiciary (NVvR), the trade association of judges and public prosecutors.

Nearly half of the respondents said they feel less safe in their work due to threats from the criminal environment and that it sometimes affects their work. Almost a third of magistrates have changed their work method, for example, using a code instead of their name on case files.

Over the past years, there have been several serious incidents, primarily around the Marengo process against Ridouan Taghi and the drug-centered gang allegedly around him. Key witness Nabil B.’s brother Reduan, lawyer Derk Wiersum, and confidant, crime reporter Peter R. de Vries were all assassinated. In the De Vries case, all prosecutors, magistrates, judges, detectives, witnesses, and forensic investigators involved appear in the file anonymously.

Almost 10 percent of respondents said they sometimes refuse a case due to safety concerns. “Given my private situation with small children and the impact that personal security would have on my family life, I do not handle serious crime cases,” one judge said.

Nearly all respondents said they worry about how the violence and threats impact the rule of law. “It seems like a losing battle in which we have to compete with water pistols against automatic weapons,” one prosecutor said.

The NVvR isn’t surprised by the findings, chairman Marc Fierstra told NOS. The authorities are currently considering a pool of judges willing and able to try high-risk cases and additional financial compensation for judges and prosecutors living under personal security. They’re already offering additional mental health support.

“The fact that there are so many threats is really intense,” Fierstra said. “People are sometimes waited on, visited at home, or harassed online.”

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) is also unsurprised by the survey results. The OM pointed out that not all threats come from organized crime. “It is a worrying development that, unfortunately, fits with the hardening and polarization in society,” a spokesperson said.