A'dam mayor's son will not be prosecuted for illegal weapon charge

Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema's 15-year-old son will not be prosecuted for illegal firearm possession. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) referred his case to Halt, where he will likely get community service, his lawyer Peter Plasman said to ANP.

The Public Prosecution Service confirmed that the case has been closed on its side, but due to the boy's privacy would not say whether or not the case was referred to Halt, NOS reports. Halt refused to comment for the same reason. Halt is the department that handles simple juvenile crimes outside criminal law. Most young people who come into contact with the police for the first time end up being referred to Halt.

The boy was arrested in mid-July after he and a friend entered a vacant houseboat with a deactivated revolver. A month later De Telegraaf wrote about the arrest, saying the boy was arrested for armed burglary and that people in the police and judiciary are annoyed that the case is being hushed up.

In an open letter following the publication, Halsema contradicted De Telegraaf's allegations that her son was arrested for armed burglary. According to her, he and his friend entered an abandoned houseboat with a fake weapon. He still broke the law and will have to bear the consequences, she said, but it was not an armed burglary.

The mayor also denied any form of cover-up. She reported the arrest to the city council, and the case was transferred to the OM in Haarlem to avoid any suggestion of favoritism or concealment. "There is no cover-up. This is a private matter, a fifteen-year-old boy whose data would never have been made public in comparable cases", the mayor said. The police and Public Prosecutor also denied any form of cover-up.

Halsema's partner Robert Oey later said in an interview with NRC that the weapon in question was a disabled revolver that he had left in their home. According to him, the weapon was bought in Germany 20 years ago. He used it for the logo of his former production company in 1999 and it has been used as a film prop multiple times since. Oey was questioned for illegal firearm possession in mid-September.

Lawyer Plasman told ANP that a report from a judicial expert described the weapon as a gas or alarm revolver, the barrel of which had been closed.