In the court of The Hague was decided on Monday 52 criminal cases to be discontinued due to capacity problems. With this, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) hopes to create space for more urgent matters. The initial request of the Public Prosecution Service focused on 53 criminal cases, but one case was arrested at the insistence of the public prosecutor.
Old cases, a lack of interest, no direct victims or a lack of other requirements: all 53 cases have been individually reviewed by the judge and all but one found ‘inadmissible’. By this the court means that the substantive handling of a case cannot proceed correctly. In many cases, the suspects were arrested more than four, or sometimes even ten, years ago. According to the Public Prosecution Service, it would be a shame to burden the limited hearing capacity with these more than fifty cases. “Continuing these cases no longer serves any criminal interest,” the court said.
The criminal files include several drug cases. Men in possession of 8,300 ml of cocaine, five kilograms of hashish or a large amount of hemp plants were called “little boys” by the public prosecutor in September. Seating capacity is badly needed for the ‘larger quantities’. 52 former suspects thus escape punishment. According to the Public Prosecution Service, both the interests of society and the interests of the suspects and those involved “benefit” from cessation of these cases.