Amsterdam assassination suspects could get life in prison

The public prosecutor is calling for sentences equal to life in prison for Adil A. and Anouar B., suspected of murdering friends of a rival gang member, and shooting at their rival as well as two motorcycle police officers with a Kalashnikov rifle. The incident terrorized the Staatsliedenbuurt neighborhood in Amsterdam in December 2012, and left Youssef Lkhorf and Said El Yazidi dead. The sentencing must be based on evidence linking the suspects to the wild west-styled shootout, the prosecutor said. All the pieces of evidence were laid out for hours today in court, Parool reported. Prosecutors stated that the "excessive gun violence caused enormous turmoil and serious hazard for casual bystanders." It is also said that the murders of the two young men who died in the shootout caused "unfathomable suffering." Over 40 shots were fired at the gang member, the prosecution presented in their case last week. Adil A.'s alibi of cutting weed on a plantation in Slotermeer is "far from air tight," said prosecutor Maaike van Kampen. The court deduced Anouar B. to have been the passenger in the car shooting the Kalashnikov, after finding his DNA on the headrest of the passenger seat. The suspects' DNA was found on a gun in a ditch near the stolen getaway car used in the incident, the prosecution alleged. Gunshot residue was also found on the suspects' clothing, they claimed. The prosecution argued that everyone involved in the attempted assassinations are equally guilty, since the act was committed together. The two motorcycle police officers shot at, testified in court last week and one of them suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.