Holleeder will hear today whether he will remain in prison for life

After his previous condemnation Willem Holleeder will hear today whether this sentence will become final. The Court of Appeal in Amsterdam will rule on the appeal that Holleeder had filed.

Over the past two and a half years, the appeal in the Holleeder case has been handled almost silently. A greater contrast with the court hearings in Amsterdam in 2018 is hardly imaginable.

Then there was huge interest before the trial and there were even long rows public in court. On the days when sisters Astrid and Sonja Holleeder had to testify, the first people reported at 4 a.m. who wanted to be sure of a seat in the courtroom to be able to experience the collisions between Holleeder and his sisters.

In recent sessions, at the court of appeal, the public gallery has remained largely empty. There was hardly any press. What also failed to materialize were fierce confrontations between brother and sisters. They had their emotions under better control this second time around.

Suprised

“It was of course a unique situation at the time, with the sisters making incriminating statements about their brother,” says press lawyer General Dop Kruimel on behalf of the Public Prosecution Service. “We were a bit surprised that there was so little interest now.”

“The disproportionate attention that was there before has completely disappeared,” notes Sander Janssen, who is responsible for Holleeder’s defense together with Desiree de Jonge. This is how it often goes: when a case is first brought to court, there is plenty of interest. In an appeal, all the facts are known, there is already a verdict and the case is no longer news.

Marengo

In addition, there is an important reason for the lack of interest, Janssen suspects: the Marengo process has taken its place. Shortly after Holleeder’s conviction, lawyer Derk Wiersum was murdered. He was involved in the trial of Ridouan Taghi. From that moment on, all attention shifted from Holleeder to Taghi.

Janssen is not sorry about the silence surrounding the appeal. “I got an infotainment-like feeling about it at the time. Fortunately, now it was just about the content.”

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