News item | 29-05-2026 | 13:30
5 new deputy members are appointed to the Common Court of Justice. This concerns Mr. AHM (Bert) Dölle, Mr. RJH (Rob) Goossens, Mr. MC (Mathieu) van Linde, Mrs. R. (Rebecca) Prakke-Nieuwenhuizen LL. M. and Mr. PJ (Peter) Wattel. The Kingdom Council of Ministers has approved the nominations for appointment at the proposal of State Secretary Van Bruggen of Justice and Security. The appointments take effect on the day the Royal Decree is signed.
Mr. Dölle is a criminal judge at the Leeuwarden court. Previously, he was a deputy judge at the Groningen District Court, a deputy judge at the Leeuwarden Court of Appeal and a lawyer.
Mr. Goossens works as a criminal judge at the Breda District Court. He previously worked as a subdistrict judge in Bergen op Zoom. He has also been a judge in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom for a period, as a criminal judge in Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Bonaire.
Mr. Van Linde is a judge in the Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal. Before that, he had a career as a lawyer and was a lecturer at the University of Groningen. In addition to his work as a lawyer, he is a senior lecturer in forensic evidence at the vocational training course of the Dutch Bar Association at the Center for Post-Academic Legal Education of Radboud University.
Mr. Prakke-Nieuwenhuizen works as a justice in the Arnhem-Leeuwarden court. In that position, she was also chairman of the National Consultation on the Subject Content of Family and Youth Law of the courts. She is also deputy chair of the Central Disciplinary Board for Healthcare. In the past, she was vice-president of the Arnhem District Court, a commercial law judge at the Zutphen District Court, and a lawyer.
Mr. Until May 1, 2026, Wattel was advocate general at the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, state councilor advocate general at the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State and deputy justice at the Central Appeals Tribunal and the Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal. He is also an editor at the Nederlands Juristenblad and a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences.
The Common Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba administers justice on the islands. The judges at the Common Court of Justice hear civil cases, criminal cases and administrative cases (including tax cases), both at first instance and on appeal. The Common Court is also involved in special courts of law (such as for civil service matters) and in boards charged with disciplinary proceedings. The Court consists of locally employed judges and expatriate judges.
