Will ‘violent’ motorcycle club Hardliners be banned today?

When the police banged on the door in the middle of the night because a fire had broken out outside, Loek Libert (89) immediately thought of his wife. Her heart was not working properly and Libert was afraid that she would have another heart attack. It ended well, but when they see outside that their entire car has gone up in flames, they are very frightened.

It was a matter of bad luck, as it turned out the next day in Koog aan de Zaan. The fire is probably a signal to the neighbors further down the street. Earlier there were also a fireworks bomb and a suspicious package in the garden. The story goes around in the neighborhood that Lysander de R, founder of the Hardliners motorcycle club, wanted to put pressure on someone from prison in Zaandam. ‘Talking to the law’ would be severely punished within his motorcycle club.

The incidents that shocked Koog aan de Zaan in 2021 are said to be just a selection from the violent resume of the Hardliners motorcycle club. Justice hopes today to convince the judge that violence runs deep in the capillaries of the organization and that the club, like other motorcycle clubs, should be banned.

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According to the Public Prosecution Service, members are encouraged to commit criminal acts and the club works according to a similar structure as the Hells Angels. There is said to be a culture in which committing violence is normal and that bikers are required to remain silent about everything going on within the organization.

Crack the whip

In 2019, De R. founded Hardliners, from his cell in Zaandam. He had just served the first year of his nine-year prison sentence, including for assault and extortion. De R. was for many years the head of the Haarlem Hells Angels, which grew into the most notorious department in the Netherlands under his rule. Two mayors were so seriously threatened that they were protected for years.

According to the Public Prosecution Service, his prison sentence did not stop De R. from continuing his work as club leader. The Hardliners grew rapidly. After just two years, the club had about two hundred members, spread over 22 branches in different cities.

The Hardliners’ logo resembles that of Hells Angels, something that is normally unthinkable. R. has never said anything about the relations between the Angels and the Hardliners. It is clear that many members of banned clubs switched to Hardliners.

His activities as founder of the Hardliners earned De R. a new indictment last year. He was arrested in his cell on suspicion of participation in a criminal organization with the intention of committing violent incidents.

Not the first

If the Hardliners are told today that they must dissolve their association, it would be the seventh motorcycle club that is no longer allowed to meet in the Netherlands. Previously, Satudarah, No Surrender and the Hells Angels, among others, were banned.

Enforcing such a ban is not easy. In 2009, the banning of the Hells Angels failed. The judges then found that the members were guilty of ‘socially undesirable behavior’, but that banning an entire organization would go too far. The club was banned after all in 2019.

Today the Public Prosecution Service will illustrate with various examples from current court cases why the Hardliners should be banned. They will also try to paint a picture of why the Hardliners are no different from the Hells Angels, Satudarah and No Surrender.

NH contacted Hardliners’ lawyer, but received no response.