Dutch court opens trial of 2 suspects for journalist's murder

Netherlands,Politics

Netherlands, International, Politics, National Read Latest News and Articles

Share With Your Friends

The Hague, Oct 19 (IANS) A Dutch court has started the trial of two suspects for the murder of crime journalist Peter R. de Vries, who was shot in Amsterdam on July 6 and died nine days later.

The suspects for the murder of the 64-year-old crime reporter were a 22-year-old Dutch man, who was accused of being the alleged shooter, and a 35-year-old man from Poland, who was the driver of the getaway car, reports Xinhua news agency.

The two men were arrested on a highway shortly after De Vries was shot in the head in a location not far from the studio of the TV program RTL Boulevard, where he had been a guest that evening as an expert.

De Vries was the most successful crime reporter in the country.

In 1978, he became a journalist for the daily newspaper De Telegraaf and in this function he followed the case of the kidnapping of Freddy Heineken, owner of the beer brewing giant.

He wrote two books on this subject.

Later De Vries had his own crime investigation TV show and in recent years he focused on solving cold cases and attended several TV shows as a crime specialist.

In 2019, he said that police had warned him he was on a gangster-hit-list of the country's most wanted criminal Ridouan Taghi, who is currently in detention.

The trial process begins with prosecutors giving an account of progress in police investigation and the lawyers possibly requesting further investigation.

The murder of the famous crime reporter shocked the public across the Netherlands.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte has called for steps to ensure that "justice takes its course".

"We may and will never tolerate this in the Netherlands. We will do everything we can to fight crime by all means possible. This cowardly act must not go unpunished," he added.

--IANS

ksk/