VVD wants to limit how many clients lawyers can represent in high-security prison
Coalition party VVD wants to limit lawyers to a maximum of two clients in the high-security prison (EBI) in Vught. According to VVD parliamentarian Ulysse Ellian, limiting how many clients a lawyer can represent in the EBI will make it more difficult for criminals to pass messages to each other or the outside world via their lawyers, the Telegraaf reports.
“There have been major concerns for some time about lawyers being used to get messages out or to spread them between criminals,” Ellian told the newspaper. In 2022, he already submitted a broadly supported proposal that EBI detainees can’t have more than two lawyers. His new proposal goes another step further. “The examples of the past few years show that it is not an imaginary risk.”
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) accused former lawyer Inez Weski of abusing her position as a lawyer to help her client Ridouan Taghi continue his criminal activities. Around 8,000 messages were exchanged between Weski, Taghi, and the criminal kingpin’s son Faissal, the OM said in a hearing last week.
According to the VVD parliamentarian, the danger limited by this move is bigger than the freedom deprived of lawyers as a result. “If you are talking about communication between the biggest criminals or orders that are given to the outside world, we are talking about a risk that could put lives at stake in the outside world.”
Ellian will submit his proposal on Tuesday when parliament will debate amendments to the Penitentiary Principles Act and additional measures against organized crime. It is not clear whether there will be majority support for the plan.
