Royce de Vries filing for preliminary injunction against the AD

Royce de Vries is to file a preliminary injunction against the AD. The newspaper reported this on its website on Friday. By going to court, lawyer De Vries would like to prevent the newspaper from publishing a new article based on sound recordings that may have been made by his father, Peter R. de Vries. That would put Royce in danger, the paper writes. The AD reports that the case will be heard next Thursday in the court in Amsterdam.

The AD published an article last week after recordings they had received from a source. In the tapes, it can be heard that their then colleague, former lawyer and BNNVARA presenter Khalid Kasem, admits to having bribed an official. Father and son De Vries had an office in law and legal advice with Kasem at that time. The AD reports that it has now conducted further investigation into the recordings and has therefore approached De Vries and Kasem with questions.

The editor-in-chief of AD, Rennie Rijpma, reacted on the website to the injunction by De Vries. "Our journalists work with an open mind and therefore submit questions to those involved as part of the journalistic investigation into these recordings. They may or may not respond to those questions and provide a response to our journalists. I think that De Vries is now filing an injunction to prevent publication before knowing the article's content. Just by initiating summary proceedings, significant interference will be made in the freedom of the press."

Royce de Vries was unavailable for comment on Friday.