Prosecutor calls on politicians to stop pressing useless charges against each other

Chief Public Prosecutor Bart Nieuwenhuizen calls on politicians to stop pressing charges against one another in order to get attention. These "fake, tampering and show declarations" cost the judiciary a lot of time, he wrote in his column on Omroep West.

Over the past months PVV leader Geert Wilders pressed charges against Prime Minister Mark Rutte, accusing him of discriminating against the Dutch people. The Public Prosecutor dropped the case because it does not have the authority to prosecute a government member for an official crime. FvD leader Thierry Baudet pressed charges of slander and defamation against Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs Kasja Ollongren, after she accused his party of being obsessed with bringing race into the political debate. This case too was dropped after the Prosecutor concluded that Ollongren committed no crimes.

"That happens in politics, from local to international politics. Activists who press charges, not because they want justice to be done, but because they want attention. In the hope that the media will jump on it, that there are talk shows that invite them, that it is written about, that attention is paid on social media. Bingo to the activists!" Nieuwenhuizen wrote.

"Busy prosecutors have to seriously assess and review all those fake declarations. And seriously argue what to do or not to do with such charges after legal consideration." This time can better be spent on fighting, detecting and prosecuting crimes, the Prosecutor wrote. "Do not file a declaration just because you want attention. Let's continue to use criminal law for real problems."