The police judge in Arnhem has sentenced a 61-year-old man from Ede to eight weeks in prison for threatening Prime Minister Rutte, the ministers Grapperhaus, De Jonge and Van Ark and Jaap van Dissel of the RIVM. Four weeks of that sentence are suspended, with a probationary period of two years.
In November, the man wrote to Rutte on Twitter: “There is only one really working measure: Cut your, Hugo, Ferd and Tamara’s throat!”. And on December 15 to Van Dissel: “Grandpa Jaap van Dissel: forget your pension! Liquidation imminent !?” The latest tweet included a video in which a firearm is fired at the viewer.
Without a lawyer
The man was supposed to appear on May 3, but then appeared without a lawyer. A reporter from the Gelderlander then noted that the man disagreed with the corona measures.
The man then denied that he had threatened Van Dissel and the members of the cabinet. “It doesn’t say I’m going to do that. That I’m going to kill or shoot them? I didn’t make that movie of the firearm. It’s just on the internet. So you can use that.”
He also said that he never received the criminal file. The court then decided to move the case so that he could still read the file. Even today he appeared without a lawyer.
New arrests
Yesterday suspects were again arrested for threatening Van Dissel. The two are also suspected of sedition.
One is a 33-year-old man from Enschede. He was an administrator of a group account on Telegram and posted the first message in it. He called for bricks to be thrown through a window at Van Dissel. The home address was there.
The other suspect is a 47-year-old man from The Hague. The Public Prosecution says that he threatened on the internet that he would kill Van Dissel.
He also stood in court against other suspects in front of the courthouse. There he called after the conviction of the suspects that the RIVM director had to be buried. “Van Dissel, we are ready”, he is said to have shouted.
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