Peter R. de Vries

Jan 23, 2024 at 5:04 AM Update: 17 minutes ago

In a series of statements, witness ‘Eddy’ describes how Krystian M. shared the preparations for the murder of Peter R. de Vries with him. They form an important piece of evidence in the murder trial that will start on Tuesday. “Now it’s his turn.”

When the door of a van is pulled open at the end of October 2019, Krystian M. is one of the men who comes out armed with hammers and sledgehammers. According to prosecutors, his DNA reveals that the then 24-year-old Pole is hidden behind one of the balaclavas.

The job is to take down a criminal rival on behalf of Anouar Taghi. In any case, that is the suspicion for which M. heard demands for a twelve-year prison sentence in November. “That was for uncle” (more about that later), said witness Eddy about the how and why behind the attack in Utrecht. M. told him that himself.

Eddy is the pseudonym of a witness who reported to the police at the end of November 2021. He says he has been friends with M. for over a year and a half and has built up such a relationship of trust that M. tells him all kinds of things. In a series of witness statements he outlines how M. climbs the criminal ladder from executor of violent jobs to intermediary in the murder of De Vries.

“He told me that he was forbidden to do things himself,” said Eddy. “He only had to hire people, but was not allowed to do anything himself because the boss needed him as a leader.”

According to Eddy, that boss is a person who M. calls “uncle”. Eddy does not know who “uncle” is, but it concerns a Moroccan who is in prison. Justice later draws the conclusion that it is Ridouan Taghi.

Witness had to participate in child kidnapping

The liquidation of De Vries is not the only reason that Eddy will go to the police at the end of 2021. “I know people who did completely wrong things,” said Eddy. “At one point they wanted me to participate in one of these kinds of things. To be precise: it was about a kidnapping.” The witness explains to the police that there were plans to kidnap two children of a drug dealer. “And then I decided for myself that I had to report to the police to get out.”

Eddy says that he did not participate in any way in M’s criminal activities. The latter did drive around in cars that were registered in Eddy’s name. The witness has a criminal past, but says he has served his sentence for it.

According to the justice department, Eddy’s story is reliable and is supported by other evidence. The testimonies are therefore an important pillar in the construction of evidence against the suspects in the murder of De Vries.

Eddy, also called witness 5089, says he has all his knowledge from “good friend” M. They met in 2020 through a mutual friend.

In personal conversations, M., born in 1995, explains that he wants to start a Polish mafia in the Netherlands with him as leader. “Krystian was showing off a lot,” Eddy said about M’s openness. “I actually suspect that a lot of what he told me, he also told others.”

Eddy initially sees murder plans as a bluff

Since April 2021, M. has said that he has been organizing the murder of a journalist. There is 150,000 euros to be earned and Kamil E. is already hunting for it. E. is the man who will later be arrested for, among other things, mapping De Vries’ movements.

“The reason for this was that he works with a key witness (Nabil B., ed.),” Eddy said about the motive. He (Krystian M., ed.) said that they had already shot the brother of the key witness and now it is his turn,” he refers to De Vries. He is still unknown to Eddy. He tells the stories in initially dismissed as a bluff. “It didn’t occur to me that something like this could really happen,” says Eddy.

That changes when a Dutch colleague tells Eddy about the attack on De Vries, and that a Pole was involved. Together with his colleague, Eddy listens to the news on the radio about the attack committed on July 6, 2021 in Amsterdam’s Lange Leidsedwarsstraat.

He immediately makes a connection with the conversations he has been having with M for months. “I called him immediately. I was in shock and I said to him: was it yours?” “Not over the phone,” Eddy is told. The next day they meet and the witness is told that mistakes have been made.

The driver of the getaway car, the aforementioned Kamil E., should have driven to Rotterdam, but for unknown reasons chose a different route. Within an hour after the attack, he was arrested together with alleged shooter Delano G. on the A4 near Leidschendam.

Chilling conversations surrounding the execution of a murder

The murder weapon is found in the getaway car, as well as a telephone with chilling conversations about the murder of De Vries. Justice suspects that these conversations were held with M., who plays a coercive role: “You must have this dog,” is the message with a photo of De Vries. M.’s lawyer, Ronald van der Horst, has been asked for a response, but he does not want to respond.

The crime journalist died from his injuries nine days after the attack. As the trial approaches its conclusion after a year, the Public Prosecution Service suddenly comes up with a new witness. It turns out Eddy, who inadvertently becomes the reason the case has to be redone.

After a series of preliminary hearings, the trial will start on Tuesday and the sentence will be imposed a week later. The court plans to deliver its ruling in June 2024.

2024-01-23 04:04:51


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Nov 30, 2023 at 2:24 p.m

One of the suspects in the Peter R. de Vries case spoke of Ridouan Taghi in an overheard conversation as “that bastard who organized the whole thing”. He also referred to Taghi as the Dutch Pablo Escobar, a Colombian drug trafficker known for his violence.

Erickson O. is considered one of the people who filmed De Vries after the attack on July 6, 2021. The images were then distributed via social media. According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), this happened with a terrorist motive.

At Thursday’s hearing, the public prosecutor explained how O.’s house was investigated early last year and that O.’s phone was confiscated. Three days later, on January 13, O.’s interrogation was scheduled, but the suspect did not show up.

The police decided to visit O.’s house and posted a so-called summons letter on his front door. The letter stated that O. really had to come by on the 14th. In the evening, the 29-year-old suspect was overheard at home while he was talking to his roommate. They discussed, among other things, the seizure of the telephone and the letter from the police.

“They want to know if I’m talking to that Taghi or something. I can’t even remember what…”, O. is said to have said, according to the Public Prosecution Service. His roommate then asks who O. is talking about. “That Taghi. That bastard who organized the whole thing.”

File documents in NU.nl’s possession show that the housemate does not yet fully understand. He asks O. if that is the “bastard who shot”. O. then answers: “No, the one who organized the thing. Who they took for the thing.”

The roommate asks for clarification about the arrest: “You are serious? And they have already arrested him?” To which O. replies: “A long time ago, all the way in Dubai over there.”

Investigation team: There is no other way than that it concerns Taghi

The investigation team noted in the file that “given the further description that O. subsequently gives, it cannot be otherwise than that he is talking about Ridouan Taghi here”.

O.’s lawyer Vito Shukrula says in a response that what his client says is all gossip and backbiting. “Shortly after Peter R. de Vries was shot, Mr Taghi’s name was already circulating in the media as a client,” says Shukrula. “My client has also seen that happen and that is why he says this about Mr. Taghi. So nothing special. If you approach the average Dutch citizen on the street and ask who is behind the murder of De Vries, they will also mention the name Taghi “That doesn’t mean it’s actually true.”

Judgment is scheduled for June 2024

The tapped conversation is one of the last additions to the file before the substantive hearing starts on January 23 next year.

De Vries’ relatives will have their say on January 24. Two days later, the Public Prosecution Service issues sentence demands against a total of ten suspects. The ruling is scheduled for June 2024.

2023-11-30 13:24:30


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