Two were sentenced to 28 years in prison and one to 26 years. Authorities believe gunmen targeted the crime journalist due to his role as advisor to a key witness in the trial of the alleged leader of a criminal outfit.
A Dutch court on Wednesday handed down sentences over the 2021 assassination of crime journalist Peter R. de Vries.
De Vries was gunned down in broad daylight on a busy Amsterdam street on July 6, 2021, bringing scrutiny to the country’s drug gang underworld.
Three main suspects were convicted, with two of them sentenced to 28 years in prison and one to 26 years.
Prosecutors had sought life sentences for the man charged with shooting De Vries, the alleged getaway driver and a man suspected of organizing the assassination. De Vries died nine days later. He was 64.
‘Attack on rule of law,’ says king
In January, prosecutors sought sentences ranging from three to 21 years for the other six people suspected of being involved in the assassination.
The killing sparked outrage and an outpouring of grief across the Netherlands. Dutch King Willem-Alexander said the slaying was “an attack on journalism, the cornerstone of our constitutional state and therefore also an attack on the rule of law.”
De Vries had been an adviser and confidant for a protected witness in the trial of the alleged leader of a criminal outfit. The witness’ brother and lawyer were both murdered.
