Willem P. from Zwolle, who is serving a twenty-year prison sentence for the murder of Jan Elzinga in Marum in 2012, must appear in court in Groningen today. As a witness, he has to answer questions from the lawyers of four suspects who were arrested last year. According to him, the four would have provoked the murder.
P.’s statements were the reason for the arrest of the women from Hollandscheveld and Roden and the men from Nieuw-Roden and Kampen. P. also received a penalty for it.
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) has continuously resisted the physical presence of P. in the courtroom. The Zwollenaar would then come face to face with the four new suspects in the murder case. According to the OM, the safety of P. is paramount and the man should therefore be made unrecognizable or heard via a video connection. The defense wants to look P. straight in the eye at all costs, during this special interrogation.
Interrogation in a separate room
The court has opted for a middle ground. With a view to safety, P. is heard in a separate interrogation room, at a different place in the court. The lawyers, the public prosecutor and the judges also take place in that room. The suspects and other persons present remain in the courtroom and listen in via an audio connection. This interrogation will take a large part of the day.
In this video, press prosecutor Jan Hoekman explains why Willem P. eventually made a statement: