11 arrestsThe eleven children who were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the explosion of violence at Bijlmer Arena station are not all known to each other. The young people, the youngest of whom is twelve years old, spontaneously formed a group when one of them was kissed on the mouth out of the blue by the later victim of the abuse.
That is what lawyer Richard Sussenbach says, who is trying to get the video of the incident offline on behalf of his client, the sixteen-year-old who would have been kissed on his mouth. According to him, he did not want to show off what happened at the station at all.
Regrets and apologies
The infamous video, which is also widely condemned in political circles, suggests that an innocent man falls victim to a targeted action by a group of unhinged youths. None of that is true, says Sussenbach. “Violence is in no way justified. My client is very sorry and has apologized. But the story that these guys as a group were purposefully looking for a random victim is not true. This was not just violence out of the blue.”
The situation escalates when an adult man around 40 years old kisses a boy who was just 16 years old at the time, unsolicited, says Sussenbach. That is what two other suspects have stated separately from each other, reported Het Parool earlier. These statements suggest that the subsequent victim may have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs. “He seemed drunk because he was acting very crazy,” a statement said.
‘That makes you think’
When someone offered to call 911, he shouted: ‘No, no, no police’
Richard Sussenbach, lawyer
The boy who would have been kissed on the mouth unsolicited would have called two friends for help. The three of them confronted the man about his behavior. The later victim would then have touched the boy again, after which the three boys attacked him. “At that moment a lot of guys came running that my client doesn’t know at all. And from that moment on, that movie starts and chaos ensues.”
A total of eleven suspects have been arrested in this case, eight of whom are still suspected of attempted manslaughter. Among them the boy who would have been kissed on the mouth. Meanwhile, the police are searching with all their might for the still missing victim. The chances of him being found are getting smaller every day. “I have a hard head,” says lawyer Sussenbach. The man would not have accepted any form of help after the crime. “When someone offered to call 911, he shouted: ‘No, no, no police‘. After the assault, he boarded a train to Schiphol and was not seen by anyone after that. That makes you think,” says Sussenbach.
If the police do not find the victim, this logically has consequences for the punishment that hangs over the youngsters’ heads. “If there is no injury statement and no report is filed, I wonder if it will end in attempted manslaughter. The impact of the violence is then more difficult to test,” says Sussenbach. The lawyer expects an update from the police in the course of the week. “If that man has not been found by then, I expect that they will stop the search and re-evaluate the case.”
Meanwhile, the shocking images of the abuse continue to reverberate on the internet. More than a million people have now seen the beating. The measure is now full for politics. The PvdA and CDA want to criminalize the original distributor with a bill. Who that was at Bijlmer station is a mystery. “My client has no idea either, he hardly knew anyone from that group of young people,” says Sussenbach. “He really likes that movie. It is a child of 16, without a criminal record, who has done something very wrong on a whim. Does he have to pay for that for the rest of his life?
It is a child of 16, without a criminal record, who has done something very wrong on a whim
Richard Sussenbach, lawyer
Young offenders
The fact that the perpetrators are very young makes the case even more intense, according to local politicians. “How do you get it into your head to use such excessive violence at such a young age?” wonders Claire Martens, party leader VVD Amsterdam. The incident and the arrests are not isolated events, says Ilana Rooderkerk, chairwoman of D66 Amsterdam. “People are getting involved in violent incidents at an increasingly younger age,” she says.
According to her, they are ‘often young people who grow up in an unstable situation’. “It is therefore important to invest in youth work. By focusing on the prevention of youth problems, you strengthen resilience and talent development, and in this way you offer them opportunities.” The Netherlands Youth Institute has no figures on this type of serious crime broken down by youth. “Fortunately, incidents like this occur so rarely that we cannot say anything general about this type of violence in relation to young people,” said a spokesperson.
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