Record damages paid to wrongfully accused

The Dutch state paid out a record €24.8 million in damages last year to people who had been locked up in prison wrongfully. The daily Leidsch Dagblad reports that this amount is twice what the state paid out ten years ago. It quotes Bart Nooitgedagt, chairman of the Dutcn Association of Criminal Lawyers: “This is worrisome. The impact on your life is gigantic if you have to spend time in jail wrongfully, even if it’s just for one night.” The paper said judges ruled 10.471 times in 2013 that the state owed damages, citing the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).