Verdict in organized crime homicides trial expected next week after nearly 6 years

The District Court of Amsterdam will soon conclude the long-running and controversial trial centered on a series of assassinations, attempted murders, and murder-for-hire plots. The court has set February 27 as the date in which the verdict will be delivered in the case, more commonly known by the randomly assigned name, Marengo. The case has lasted for nearly six years, and hearings were held publicly on 142 separate dates. The court estimated that the case file covers tens of thousands of sheets of paper, saying it was not possible to provide an exact count.

The lawyer for prosecution witness and informant Nabil B. called Marengo “The most diseased and poisoned procedure ever." Marengo centers around main suspect Ridouan Taghi, an alleged organized crime leader and drug kingpin, along with 16 fellow suspects.

Together, they are accused of involvement in six murders and many attempts to commit murder in cases dating from 2015 and 2016. The extensive trial has been held in the ultra-secure bunker courtroom in Amsterdam-Osdorp, located near Schiphol Airport.

Taghi was able to evade the authorities for years as did his alleged accomplice and right-hand man, Säid R. Taghi was arrested at the end of 2019 in Dubai. He was extradited to the Netherlands within days and has been incarcerated in the high-security unit (EBI) at the prison in Vught.

R. was arrested at the start of 2020 in Colombia, it took until the end of 2021 for him to be extradited. Prosecutors called for a life sent against Taghi, R. and four fellow suspects.

The case was triggered when key witness Nabil B. gave himself up to authorities. Early in 2018, his brother was fatally shot a week after prosecutors revealed that B. had secretly provided information to them. B.’s lawyer, Derk Wiersum, was shot and killed in September 2019, and his advisor, the journalist Peter R. de Vries, was shot dead in July 2021.

These murders did not formally play a role in the Marengo trial, but the prosecutors suspect that they are related to the statements from the key witness.

There were more incidents during the trial besides these three shocking murders. Two lawyers representing lead suspect Taghi were arrested. They are alleged to have shared messages from Taghi to his connections in the outside world while he was in the EBI. Taghi has been in restricted custody since his arrest, meaning he is forbidden from maintaining contact with anyone other than his legal representatives.

His cousin and counselor Yousseff T. was sentenced to five and a half years in jail for these offenses in early 2023. His main lawyer, Inez Weski, is awaiting the verdict from the case against her. Taghi no longer has an attorney after his three lawyers stepped down from his defense at the end of last year.

There were also unprecedentedly harsh exchanges between defense lawyers and the Public Prosecution Service. Prosecutors accused the lawyers of leaking information to Taghi's organization during a trial that was seen as the precursor to Marengo.

Lawyers were also secretly followed when they visited a client in Dubai, because it was suspected that they were meeting with Taghi while he was a fugitive. That turned out not to be the case.

The court has also been challenged several times in vain, because the lawyers indicated that they no longer had confidence in the independence of the judges presiding over the Marengo trial.

The first public hearing took place on March 23, 2018 and the ruling will follow on February 27, 2024. However, the case will not really be over, because it is almost certain that there will be an appeal.