Peter Schouten stops as a crown witness’s lawyer: ‘Pretty intense’

“Pretty intense and also emotional.” That is how Peter Schouten from Breda calls the decision that he and colleague Onno de Jong have taken to stop as a lawyer for crown witness Nabil B. He made this known on Tuesday evening in the TV program Khalid&Sophie. Earlier he said in KRAAK, the talk show of Omroep Brabant, “that it does not occur to him to stop and neither does Onno.”

The pair declined to explain the reasons for their decision. “We have professional secrecy. That means”, said Schouten, “that we are not allowed and cannot tell anything about our client, his case and things related to it.”

‘Continue with other key witnesses’
Like Onno, he refused to comment on whether they stopped of their own accord or whether this was done at the request of other parties. Nor did they want to confirm or deny that they wanted to send a signal to the Public Prosecution Service. Both dismissed the suggestion that they would no longer feel safe by saying that they are assisting other key witnesses and that they will continue to do so.

“It is important that we continue to do this, although I am not a crime fighter. A doctor is not for illnesses, I am not for insecurity,” said Schouten, who has been protected himself for some time, but seems to take it lightly. “The bodyguards who escorted me here tonight jokingly said that they will give us a first class train ticket to go home alone now that we are no longer assisting the star witness. Gallows humor always works well in tense situations.”

Nabil B. himself announced on Tuesday morning that he would have to continue without the support of Schouten and De Jong. He said this during yet another session in the extensive Marengo trial about violent liquidations by the so-called mocro-mafia. B. said there that he heard from his lawyers a week ago ‘that they are no longer assisting him’.

Attorney for key witness since 2020
Schouten suggested in 2019, immediately after the liquidation of lawyer Derk Wiersum, to replace him as counsel for the crown witness. At the time, this was widely regarded as a very courageous decision. In the end, he was not immediately appointed. Later that year it became clear that Peter R. de Vries and Schouten had been asked by B. to assist him in the process together. The Public Prosecutor then prevented that. In July 2020, Schouten took on the defense of the key witness. Later De Jong was also added as a lawyer.

Schouten has been under strict security since his appointment as B.’s lawyer. His friend Peter R. de Vries chose not to. He was shot dead in Amsterdam in July 2021. Earlier in this case, the brother of the key witness was shot dead.

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