Criminal lawyer Jan-Hein Kuijpers hopes that the new safety rules in the Extra Secure Institution (EBI) in Vught will be abolished quickly. Stricter rules apply since this month, including the making of recordings of conversations between clients and lawyers. “It’s almost becoming comical,” says Kuijpers.
Kuijpers is one of the 46 criminal lawyers who sent a joint letter to courts, tribunals and chief public prosecutors on Tuesday. They express their objections to the stricter security measures and have stopped visiting detainees in the EBI for the time being.
“We can no longer prepare or discuss anything without being watched,” says Kuijpers. “We may even be tapped in a way that the dogs don’t like. It’s also dangerous, because you don’t know where that information is and how it is stored.”
The stricter rules are intended to prevent criminals from continuing their crimes from prison. In addition to visually monitoring conversations between lawyers and their clients, a suspect is also only allowed to talk to two lawyers. Detainees also have fewer opportunities to call and receive visitors.
“You are not even allowed to give a client a hug if you have been assisting such a guest for five years,” says Kuijpers. “You are not allowed to discuss documents or show notes to each other. It is almost becoming comical. We are no longer allowed to go inside.”
He expects this to have major consequences. “Certainly for the boys who are in custody, because they naturally want to continue with their cases. But also for the judiciary, which is at a loss. If we ask for a postponement because we cannot prepare things, everything gets even more stuck than it already is. These are cases with serious suspicions with many hearing days and large files, so just get on with it.”
He calls it ‘almost a certainty’ that things will be delayed. “Our hope is that the judiciary and the Public Prosecution Service will stand up against the rules. That they will come to their senses and abolish this very quickly. We have ended up in a kind of banana republic with this government. This is simply nonsense.”