A first farmer was sentenced to 120 hours of community service and two months’ probation under super-fast court for sedition. The 23-year-old farmer from Strijensas, South Holland, called last week via chat service Telegram to shut down Schiphol. ‘If there is as much turnout as in Stroe, the police and the riot police can’t do anything,’ he wrote. At the end of June there was a large national farmers’ protest in Stroe.
Two days after the message in question, he had to appear in court. There he expressed emotional regret. The farmer said he was overcome with despair, because he wants to take over the company from his parents, but is no longer sure about his future due to the nitrogen plans of the cabinet. After sending the message, he said he immediately realized that his action ‘made no sense’. In determining the penalty, the police judge took into account that the man is still young, was so shocked and has no criminal record.
Super expedited justice and summary justice are part of the police and judicial authorities’ close quarters policy, in which lawsuits are settled within three to six or seventeen days, respectively, after detention. This is only possible in simple cases, the investigation of which is completed quickly. It has previously been used, for example, during the curfew riots in Rotterdam.
‘It is understandable that the Public Prosecution Service has now chosen to bring a number of cases to court in the short term’, says Joost Nan, professor of criminal procedure law at Erasmus University. ‘In this way, the government can voice a counter voice: watch out, we take action against these types of crimes.’
But Nan doubts whether the most fanatical nitrogen protesters will also pick up on that signal. ‘I don’t think it has ever been scientifically proven that people refrain from committing a crime by means of summary proceedings. In fact, it could harden the tone. Such a quick conviction can strengthen the us-them feeling among a certain group – farmers, in this case – and increase the resistance.’
Eighteen suspects in the east of the Netherlands
At the Public Prosecution Service (OM) in the east of the Netherlands, the police files against activist farmers are piling up. “Efforts are being made to bring the people arrested in farmers’ protests to justice as soon as possible,” said a spokesperson. In July and August, hearings are already planned against eighteen suspects, including the farmers who were arrested in front of the house of Minister Christianne van der Wal, and the demonstrators who misbehaved in Kootwijkerbroek and Stroe. Because the charges can still change, the Public Prosecution Service is reluctant to communicate the charges.
Farmers who have been arrested during protests elsewhere in the country often have yet to be brought to trial or have already been released with a fright, a warning or a fine. For example, the ten adult farmers who were arrested in Bleiswijk on Wednesday evening when they refused to leave distribution centers have since been sent away with a fine. A spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service in the Rotterdam region cannot yet elaborate on the amount, but according to him it will not be “thousands of euros”. The nine underage farmers who were arrested in Bleiswijk are also free.
The man from Uden in Brabant who was arrested last Friday for inciting and threatening Mark Rutte, among others, will only be prosecuted if he is guilty of other criminal offenses in the coming year. De Brabander had a clean criminal record. A man from Zeist who was also arrested for sedition has yet to be produced. It is expected that the Utrecht Public Prosecution Service will soon also receive the police files about the cutter fishermen who wanted to block the Ketelbrug in the Noordoostpolder.
Fine for man who did not want to get off the highway
In Limburg, the police have so far completed all cases without the involvement of the Public Prosecution Service. The 70-year-old man from Deurne who did not want to leave the highway near Maasbree on Monday, while the police asked this several times, was released the same day. He was fined. The man and woman who could not identify themselves during a protest in the province left the police station with a ticket.
In the north of the Netherlands, fourteen people have been arrested for crimes related to the farmers’ protests, including for public violence. None of these cases qualify for summary judgment. The case of the boy Jouke shot at by the police has been dropped. The two adults who were arrested during the much-discussed protest in Heerenveen are no longer suspected of attempted manslaughter.