Inez Weski and the Public Prosecution Service will not appeal against last month’s verdict, in which the former lawyer was convicted of participating in the criminal organization of drug trafficker Ridouan Taghi. The criminal proceedings thus come to an end.
In its own words, the Public Prosecution Service is very satisfied that the Rotterdam court has accepted almost all the evidence submitted and has condemned the suspect’s actions in strong terms. However, the Public Prosecution Service is of the opinion “that the imposed sentence does not do justice to the reproaches established by the court.” The Public Prosecution Service and lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops had mutual discussions about the appeal last week. “Because the defense has indicated that it will not appeal itself, there will soon be an irrevocable and very clear verdict, and that weighs heavily on the Public Prosecution Service,” the prosecutors said.
According to the judges, ‘her career has come to a shocking end and this conviction means loss of her reputation and social position’
Weski, through her lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops, states that “she will not continue this process for years to come through appeal procedures and possibly cassation or before the European Court.” According to Knoops, she hopes “to be able to concentrate on other paths to law, justice and compassion and on the art of living.”
According to the court, lawyer Weski “acted as a conduit for her client Taghi and his organization. By forwarding messages, Weski facilitated a criminal organization with the aim of trafficking in narcotics and laundering the proceeds.” The suspect was sentenced to 42 days in prison, the time she had already spent in pre-trial detention.
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‘Mental and physical health’
A long prison sentence would have been appropriate given the criminal conduct, but the judges consider 71-year-old Weski to have been punished enough by the case. According to them, “her career has come to a shocking end and this sentence means the loss of her reputation and social position, as well as a deterioration of her mental and physical health.”
At first instance, the Public Prosecution Service had demanded a prison sentence of four and a half years. According to prosecutor Jirko Patist, Weski has abused her position as a lawyer and that affects “the foundation of the rule of law.” During the indictment, Patist further said that the Public Prosecution Service has not determined the motive for her criminal actions. He expressed the suspicion that Weski has succumbed to threats from the underworld. Shortly after her arrest on April 21, 2023, she allegedly told three magistrates: “You know that I did not want this, you must have seen the messages, you also know that I will not survive this.”
Knoops says that, according to Weski, the court’s verdict “is in conflict with legal principles and basic evidentiary law principles on fundamental points and in a systematic manner. In her opinion, this does not do sufficient justice to the case.”
John Lucas, chief prosecutor of the National Public Prosecutor’s Office, comments that “the well-reasoned verdict amply emphasizes the seriousness of the criminal case. It sends an unmistakable signal about what the core values of the legal profession are.” Lucas: “The Public Prosecution Service wanted to set a standard for the way in which information is passed on between lawyers and their clients […]. That is very important to us, just like the fact that there is now an indisputable verdict.”
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