Lawyer Roy van der Wal has lodged an appeal in cassation on behalf of former No Surrender foreman Henk Kuipers from Emmen against the judgment of the court in Leeuwarden. He will let you know today.
Earlier this month, Kuipers was sentenced by the court to a prison sentence of 8.5 years. According to the court, the Emmen is guilty of leading a criminal organization, extortion and theft with violence. That took place from 2014 to 2017. In 2020, Kuipers was sentenced by the court in Groningen to ten years in prison for the same offences.
The Supreme Court no longer handles a case substantively, but checks whether the law and the procedural rules have been correctly applied. If, according to the Supreme Court, this is not the case, it can refer the case back to the Court of Appeal. It is not yet clear on what grounds Kuipers will appeal in cassation. “For various reasons, the defense does not agree with the judgment of the court,” said Van der Wal. “The verdict is almost three hundred pages, so we’re going to look at that further.” Cassation must be lodged within two weeks of a conviction, but a lawyer can take longer to determine the motivation.
In an audio message on his social media page, Kuipers already said that the court’s ruling is “an absolute setback”. “An example must be set, let me be that,” said Kuipers via social media. Shortly after the verdict, lawyer Van der Wal also said that he was “very disappointed”.
During the session at the court, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) argued that members of the motorcycle club had to surrender the vests they had bought themselves and were fined 5,000 euros. The complainant called this method a business model for the club. According to the Public Prosecution Service, several No Surrender members were always present during the abuse in the member room of the club who did not intervene. The abuse sometimes led to fractures and crushing of bones. The Public Prosecution Service takes it seriously that the club members almost never got the chance to voluntarily leave the club.
“A culture of lawlessness and violence. The government was kept out,” said the solicitor general (the public prosecutor on appeal). According to the Public Prosecution Service, a strict hierarchy with its own rules prevailed within the motorcycle club. They had to keep quiet about what was happening inside the club. Members who did not comply with this were violently expelled from the club. The former leaders strongly opposed this so-called ‘bad standing’.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, the former directors were in charge of an organization engaged in drug and violent crimes. Otto was the only one to hold the position of ‘general’ and Kuipers and R. were captains. Kuipers’ right-hand man was also involved, Theo ten V. from Klazienaveen. He was sentenced to four years in prison in 2020 and was the only head of the motorcycle club not to appeal.