Former Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten admits that he made "crucial mistakes" around a settlement deal made with drug criminal Cees H. in new biography Opstelten, een leven in het openbaar bestuur published on Thursday. In the book, he says that he "totally underestimated" the issue and that he ignored the advice of his officials, AD reports.
Ivo Opstelten
Sep 5 '19 10:17
The appeal in the hate speech trial against PVV leader Geert Wilders will continue as planned, The Hague court of appeal said on Thursday. The court will not decide whether the Public Prosecution Service was justified in prosecuting the PVV leader and whether there was political interference in the decision until the final ruling in the hate speech case, the court said, NU.nl reports.
Sep 3 '19 18:10
As the appeal in the hate speech case against PVV leader Geert Wilders continued in the high security court at Schiphol on Tuesday, his lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops demanded that the case be declared inadmissible due to political interference in the decision to prosecute, NOS reports. The prosecutor denied that any interference occurred, and pressed for the case to move forward as scheduled.
Aug 30 '19 17:20
Former Justice Minsiter Ivo Opstelten and the Public Prosecution Service discussed the prosecution of PVV leader Geert Wilders for hate speech even before the Public Prosecution Service had made the decision to prosecute the nationalist politician, RTL Nieuws report based on a secret official document it received from the Ministry of Justice and Security. Wilders is furious and demands that the case against him be dropped
Jan 10 '19 15:15
The appeal in the hate speech case against PVV leader Geert Wilders will continue. The court in The Hague saw no reason to declare the Public Prosecutor inadmissible, as Wilders had requested. The court will, however, allow the defense to call former Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten, former head of the Public Prosecution Service Herman Bolhaar and a number of senior officials to testify as witnesses, NOS reports.
Nov 30 '18 15:50
The political viewpoints of Geert Wilders and his party PVV played no role in the decision to prosecute Wilders for statements he made about Moroccans, the Public Prosecutor again stressed on Friday at the start of the appeal in the hate-speech case against the PVV leader. This is only about what he said, the Prosecutor said, NU.nl reports.
Nov 30 '18 08:37
The top man of the Public Prosecution Service discussed the hate-speech case against PVV leader Geert Wilders with then VVD Minister of Justice Ivo Opstelten, Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security said in a letter to parliament. Previously the Prosecutor and various officials from the Justice Ministry denied that this case was discussed, RTL Nieuws reports.
Nov 12 '18 09:32
There are "indications" that former Minister Ivo Opstelten of Justice and Security urged the Public Prosecution Service in 2014 to prosecute PVV leader Geert Wilders for hate speech over statements he made about Moroccans, Wilders' lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops said. He asked the court for "further investigation" into the question of whether the Minister influenced this case, Knoops said to RTL Nieuws.
Dec 30 '17 11:54
A 2015 traffic accident involving once-prominent VVD politician Fred Teeven was caused by his own use of his phone while driving. Now a professional bus driver, the former Number 2 at the Justice Ministry stated his mea culpa in an interview with De Telegraaf.
The April 2 accident was serious enough to later require a brain operation.
Oct 25 '17 08:20
PVV leader Geert Wilders expressed his doubts about the neutrality of judge Jeanne Gaakeer, the president of the court of law in The Hague, who is handling the appeal of the hate speech trial against him. According to Wilders, Gaakeer is chairman of a foundation that previously awarded a prize to Sinead Wendt, a left-wing activist involved in anti-Wilders protests.
Aug 8 '17 16:20
Former National Police Chief Gerard Bouman was buried in Rotterdam on Tuesday. Hundreds of police officers formed an honor guard along the route Bouman's coffin was taken, NOS reports.
Bouman died last week at the age of 64 from the consequences of a heart attack.
Feb 16 '17 10:54
Nearly a quarter of the Ministry of Security and Justice's employees are so unhappy that they want to resign, according to an internal satisfaction survey at the Ministry. A main complaint is a heavy workload caused by political turmoil surrounding the Ministry, ANP reports.
The survey was dome among 1,300 officials working at the Ministry. A Ministry spokesperson confirmed the figures to NU.nl on Thursday and called them "worrisome".
Jan 24 '17 15:50
Minister Ard van der Steur of Security and Justice denies that he withheld information about a deal made in 2001 between then prosecutor Fred Teeven and drug criminal Cees H. "I told parliament exactly what I knew", Van der Steur said to BNR.
Jan 24 '17 09:15
VVD Minister Ard van der Steur of Security and Justice is again under fire about his role in a controversial deal Fred Teeven made with drug criminal Cees H. in 2001. A book journalist Bas Haan wrote about this deal revealed that Van der Steur deliberately withheld information from parliament, first as a parliamentarian and then when he took office as Minister. The VVD also had this information, the Volkskrant reports.
Jan 13 '17 08:07
The crime rate in the Netherlands is much higher than the official figures reflect, according to a confidential report by the police and Public Prosecutor that newspaper Trouw has in its possession. According to the newspaper, the report speaks of the public authorities facing a looming "unbridgeable disadvantage".
Nov 21 '16 11:20
It seems that ruling party VVD will support regulating cannabis cultivation in the Netherlands after all. During a VVD conference in Noordwijkerhout a vast majority of party members forced the party leaders to change their positition on this issue by voting in a proposal for "smarter regulatioin" brought by party members in Zuid-Nederland, Trouw reports.
Nov 3 '16 08:32
The role former Security and Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten played in majore irregularities in the National Police Central Work Council's expenses should also be a subject of investigation, according to opposition parties SP, CDA, PVV, D66 and ChristenUnie, NOS reports.
The parties also want former Police Chief Gerard Bouman to be suspended immediately and want him to not play any roll with the police until the investigation against him is done. Bouman is currently an adviser for the police.
Jun 7 '16 08:29
"There will be a fuss", now Minister Ard van der Steur of Security and Justice commented in a draft letter about the so-called Teeven-deal when he was still a parliamentarian in 2014. Van der Steur released the draft letter, on which he made 18 suggestions and crossed off several sentences, on Monday
Jun 7 '16 07:49
Former Security and Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten gave Parliament incomplete and inaccurate information about an American undercover operation against a former Dutch soldier who sold drugs over the internet, the Volkskrant reports based on case files in its possession. According to the suspect's lawyer, the way in which the U.S. gathered evidence against his client, was illegal.
May 25 '16 11:56
There is no evidence that Ministry of Security and Justice officials deliberately tried to cover up the receipt showing exact amounts involved in the deal then prosecutor Fred Teeven made with drug criminal Cees H., the Oosting committee concludes in its second investigation into the so-called Teeven-deal
Apr 18 '16 14:08
A number of important Dutch people were named in the Amsterdam court on Monday, where witnesses are being questioned in a case surrounding an extensive network of child sexual abuse and child prostitution in Amsterdam in the 1980's. According to the first witness, former mayor Ed van Thijn, former Minister Onno Rudding and Prince Claus were all involved in pedophile-prostitution to some extent.
Jan 26 '16 08:35
Minister Ard van der Steur ordered the Oosting-committee to re-examine the so-called Teeven-deal. He wants clarity as soon as possible on whether the receipt that showed the exact amounts involved in the deal Fred Teeven made with drug criminal Cees H. was deliberately withheld
Dec 17 '15 08:07
The Dutch cabinet will be limping into the final 1.5 years of this term. While almost the entire opposition supported a motion of censure against the cabinet during the parliamentary debate about the so-called Teeven-deal on Wednesday, they managed to survive the vote, thoroughly chastised but alive.
Dec 16 '15 15:29
Opposition parties are accusing Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the VVD of putting fellow party members above the law, concocting a plan to keep former Justice Minister Opstelten in office, damaging the citizens' trust in the government and misleading the Netherlands as a whole, in the parliamentary debate on the deal then-prosecutor Fred Teeven made with drug criminal Cees H. in 2000.
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