Community service for threatening D66 MP Sjoerdsma ANP
A 36-year-old man from Dongen, Brabant, was sentenced on Friday to a community service order of 120 hours, half of which is conditional, for threatening politician Sjoerd Sjoerdsma online. The Public Prosecution Service had demanded a community service of 120 hours from the police judge, because, according to the officer, the man crossed a border.
Sjoerdsma posted a selfie on Instagram last summer on his 40th birthday, under which the man from Dongen posted a comment in November with the text: “Let’s hope that, just like with Saddam Hussein, instead of a rope, this time they go with a belt. to use.” It was in response to another post that read “Tribunals incoming”.
At the hearing in court, the man expressed regret for his action, but this does not end the case for the Public Prosecution Service. “Threats to representatives of the people are an attack on our democracy. The anonymity of Instagram does not mean that there are no limits to the admissibility of expressions such as that of the suspect,” said the officer.