The Ministry of Justice and Security does not want to answer questions from NU.nl about the pardon to Frank Masmeijer. The former presenter was pardoned by King Willem-Alexander and was therefore released a year and a half earlier. The ministry says it will not comment on individual cases. The Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal also says it does not want to answer questions.
Masmeijer served a nine-year prison sentence in a prison in Nieuwegein for involvement in a coke smuggling case in Antwerp. The former presenter told The Telegraph that he was pardoned, but did not explain why.
Requests for clemency are not always granted. In the first quarter of 2022, 191 requests for clemency were made. Of these, sixteen have been assigned without conditions and ten with certain conditions. The ministry also does not report whether certain conditions have been set for Masmeijer’s pardon.
A request for pardon is first sent to the Public Prosecution Service and a judge for advice. In this case, it was the Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal, says a spokesperson for the ministry. “That judgment is leading. The minister (Franc Weerwind, Legal Protection, ed.) must come up with very good arguments to counter this judgment.”
The court has announced that it will not consider the Masmeijer case. “The court has been asked for advice by the king (ministry) and has given it. This advice is not public. The king ultimately decides.”
Masmeijer was convicted in Belgium, but was pardoned in the Netherlands. If a prisoner is transferred to the Netherlands after a sentence abroad, Dutch criminal law applies, the spokesperson explains.