Man sentenced to a year in prison for threatening politician Frans Timmermans

A 54-year-old man was sentenced to a year in prison in the court in The Hague on Tuesday, with half of it suspended if he adheres to certain conditions, for threatening politician Frans Timmermans and possession of a weapon. The man had threatened the politician on social media. Police found various weapons and hundreds of cartridges in his house.

The man responded to a message sent by the GroenLinks-PvdA politician on X in February with a threatening text and a gif. "Funny.. you don't even know what is hanging above your head, Fransje," the suspect, Patrick M., wrote with a moving photo of a guillotine. M. said this was an outlet for his frustrations because he disagreed with Timmermans.

"Although the suspect has a right to his opinion and just like others has the freedom of expressing them, with this, he has crossed the line of what we allow in a democratic society," the court said. "He has contributed to a climate in which politicians can feel their personal freedom restricted out of fear by the political ideas they express," Timmermans reported the incident to the Team Bedreigde Politici, which is the team for threatened politicians in English.

Many banned weapons and a large amount of ammunition were found In M.'s home. The court called his attitude towards having weapons "particularly worrying." Mainly because a child was in the home.

The Public Prosecution Service had recommended a jail sentence of 20 months with eight months of those conditionally suspended.