Appeal begins in shock murder of defense attorney Derk Wiersum

The Amsterdam Court of Appeal will start the appeal process against the two men convicted of murdering defense lawyer Derk Wiersum in the high-security courtroom at Schiphol on Tuesday. The court sentenced the two to 30 years in prison in 2021 after the Public Prosecution Service (OM) had demanded life imprisonment. Wiersum (44) was one of the lawyers representing the key witness in the still ongoing assassinations trial around Ridouan Taghi.

Wiersum was shot dead at his home in Buitenveldert, Amsterdam, on 18 September 2019. The murder hit the Netherlands like a bomb. In March 2018, the key witness Nabil B.’s brother had also been murdered, a few days after the OM announced that B. made a deal to turn witness. In July 2021, the third violent death around Nabil B. followed: crime journalist Peter R. de Vries, who acted as the key witness’s confidant, was shot in the center of Amsterdam and died nine days later.

It is widely believed that Taghi is behind the murders to get revenge on the “traitor” Nabil B. However, nothing has been proven in this regard. The investigation into who ordered the murders is still ongoing. In the Marengo assassinations trial, the OM demanded life in prison against Taghi last year.

The two alleged perpetrators of Wiersum’s murder, Moreno B. (34) and Giermo B. (39), deny that they killed the lawyer. They and the OM appealed against the court’s verdict. The court will hear several witnesses in the appeal. Eye witnesses’ descriptions of the shooter are one of the topics up for discussion because they would not match that of the suspects.

The court has set aside five days up to and including February 1 to handle the appeal.