Netherlands needs special court for cybercrime: experts

All Dutch courts should get a special "cybercrime chamber" with judges specially trained to handle technically complex cases, according to senior counselor Christiaan Baardman and Leendert Verheij, president of the court of law in The Hague, NU.nl reports.

The Hague already has a Cybercrime Knowledge Center, where judges are trained on technical developments. But Verheij and Baardman believe a special chamber for really specialized cases will be more effective.

According to Verheij, the creation of a special cybercrime chamber can be compared with the special chambers that deal with fraud or human trafficking. "The police are also specializing, even though it's slow", Baardman said, according to the newspaper. "The Public Prosecutor and lawyers also specialize."

René Pluijmers, often called as a telecom expert n lawsuits, supports this idea, he said to the Volkskrant. He talked about a case in which a second opinion revealed that the technical analysis of a suspect's phone was handled carelessly by the police, which eventually led to the suspect's acquittal. "Otherwise he would have been convicted. That's a shocking statement. It would be good if judges have more knowledge of the underlying technique."