The Public Prosecution Service in The Hague will ask the judge on Monday not to consider 53 criminal cases. A spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service confirms on Wednesday NRC that the Public Prosecution Service wants to be declared inadmissible by the court. The reason for the decision is that “room must be made for matters that the Public Prosecution Service considers even more important”.
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These include cases in which people are suspected of growing cannabis, burglary or dealing cocaine. No victims are involved in the cases, which means that no compensation is requested or a victim wishes to make use of the right to speak. The cases are at least four years old and have already gone to court.
The Public Prosecution Service emphasizes that it is not so much about capacity problems at the Public Prosecution Service, but in the entire criminal law chain. In June, the Public Prosecution Service East Netherlands already decided not to bring about 1,500 criminal cases that had been waiting for more than a year and a half for trial by the police judge because of the staff shortage. A number of cases were settled with a penalty order, the rest were dismissed.