Two men who threw a burning beer bottle into the home of the Groningen journalist Willem Groeneveld point to whose idea it was. The Public Prosecution Service suspects them of arson and attempted murder.
On August 19, 2021, at 3 a.m., the beer bottle was thrown through the front door of Groeneveld, journalist of the city blog Sikkom, at the house. Shortly before that, a window had been smashed. A fire started, but Groeneveld and his partner managed to extinguish the fire. They were unharmed.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, there were several Molotov cocktails. The public prosecutor sees in suspects Tjeerd P. (32) and Jaimy John W. (33) corona critics and conspiracy theorists. Groeneveld wrote about corona deniers. P. and W. told the court in Groningen on Monday that they had met each other during demonstrations against corona measures. “I felt at home there, I was heard,” said P. “I was touched by the way we were written,” said P. about Sikkom. “We were constantly ridiculed.” He also believed conspiracy theorist Joost Knevel, who had called Groeneveld a “criminal journalist” “who was worse than the NSB in World War II”.
Participation in protest actions
For W., his participation in protest actions was a distraction in difficult times for him, he said. Because of his faith, he did not want to be vaccinated. According to W., there was a lot of “hatred” among the group of demonstrators towards certain people, including Groeneveld.
P. says that beer bottles with turpentine were made that night in W.’s home. A video was recorded with W.’s telephone just before the incident in which people talk about “molo’s”. The bottles were manufactured by W. and under pressure from W. he had to participate, says P. In his own words, he only wanted to scare Groeneveld by throwing a brick through the windows and using an aerosol. W. claims that they made the bottles together in a drunken stupor and P. took the lead. He can barely remember anything else because of the drink. The two also point to each other about finding out Groeneveld’s address.
Camera images that hung at Groeneveld’s home show how P. throws a beer bottle through the front door. According to the Public Prosecution Service, W. shouts “throw, throw”. The men say they are sorry. P. now believes that journalists should be able to do their job. W. calls the action “extremely stupid”.