‘We are the Kick Out Zwarte Piet Haters. We break all their backs and legs. Be warned dirty children’s party haters’. Hein (41) threatened action group Kick Out Zwarte Piet when it wanted to demonstrate in 2019 in his hometown of Alkmaar. He had already been in jail for three days, was also given community service, but did not show up for it. So today he was back in court.
“A big charade”, is how the Alkmaar Hein describes today’s session about the inflammatory message he posted three years ago in the Facebook group ‘Alkmaar Kan Het’.
“I founded a group, we are the Kick Out Zwarte Piet Haters. We break all their backs and legs, be warned dirty children’s party haters. We are not going to talk, we are going straight to it. I also call on all young people to have a good time with those filthy bastards.”
According to Hein, he was reacting to a threat from the action group Kick Out Zwarte Piet. “They wanted to come to Alkmaar and Heerhugowaard to beat up Black Petes. My sister would also be there with her children. I was angry and hoped to frighten them a little so that they stayed away.”
Shortly afterwards, Hein hears that the action group is organizing a demonstration in Alkmaar. He decides to go there. “I was standing there talking to an alderman and was not threatening at all. Then I suddenly see all the police coming from the corner of my eye.”
It appears that the threat message has been reported. Hein is arrested and held for three days. He calls the treatment he subsequently receives there inhumane.
“It looked like I had killed someone. My stomach reduction made me have to follow a special diet. My parents brought me food, but I never had it. When I asked about it, some of the guards pretended not to know about it. Later I was told by another guard that my food had been in a fridge somewhere for two days. I also didn’t get toilet paper. I understand it’s not a hotel, but you don’t even do this with a dog.”
‘decent punishment’
Hein’s lawyer also calls his prison sentence exaggerated. “What my client has done is not neat, it does not suit him. But a fine would have been more logical in this case. Three days in a police cell is quite a punishment.”
The case will eventually come to court in March 2021. Hein is then given a community service order of 24 hours, but does not comply. Today he had to answer for that. According to him, the lack of a home could have been the cause. “I didn’t get that call. Because I’m homeless and live with people, I don’t have a permanent address.”
The Public Prosecutor (OvJ) does not agree with this and again demands community service. This time twenty hours, ten of which are conditional, with a probationary period of one year. “Sir has had quite a bit of time from the probation service for his community service. The fact that we are still here after three years is also on the suspect’s own plate.”
“My daughter was 9 then, she didn’t even believe in Sinterklaas anymore”
The public prosecutor does think that Hein should have been fined earlier. “When I look at such cases in the past two years, people are eventually sentenced to fines. In that sense, a fine would not have been a bad idea. But there seems little room for that now due to his financial situation.”
‘Sedition proven’
According to the Public Prosecution Service, sedition can in any case be proven. “The suspect acknowledges that he wrote the message out of anger. The fact that he did not want to attack demonstrators is not important for the sentence demand.”
The judge does not agree with the demand, but gives him a milder conditional community service of ten hours with a probationary period of one year. Hein hopes that the Public Prosecution Service will not appeal. “This case has cost me a lot of money – we have been working for almost four years. My daughter was 9 at the time, she didn’t even believe in Sinterklaas anymore. It was just not a smart move.”
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