Frenkie P., the leader of the Venlo Gang, appears in public again Tuesday morning for the first time since April 26, 1996.
In the district court in The Hague, at 10:30 a.m., the summary proceedings that lawyers Sjanneke de Crom and Cliff Raafs have filed on behalf of P. against the State will begin. Frenkie P. will attend, the court confirmed.
The stakes, in summary, are a real prospect of reassessment of the life sentence imposed on him for committing seven murders, only one of which he confessed to.
That perspective is minimal now that an advisory panel finds that Frenkie P. - he is 47 - is not yet ready to prepare for a return to society, let alone that there could be release. The minister of legal protection ruled thus in 2019.
Lots of interest
As was the case more than 24 years ago, the press showed great interest Tuesday in the trial with Frenkie P. as protagonist. The courtroom in The Hague is too small to accommodate all the reporters, draftsmen, sound and camera crews. Some of the media will have to follow the case elsewhere in the building via a video link.
At the time, when President W. Smulders of the court of appeal in Den Bosch read out the verdict amid great media interest, Frenkie P. did not want to wait for the end of the session. The president was only halfway through his story when he walked out of the room shaking his head. 'I hear it: proven this, proven that. I'm going back to my cell'. At the time, the court hoped Frenkie would never get out of there. "From the point of view of retribution and protection of society, permanent removal of the accused from society is absolutely necessary," President Smulders read.
'Coronazonde'
A quarter of a century ago, life prisoners could still hold out some hope of early release, for example after twenty years. That picture tilted: life in Holland also meant life in prison. That changed when European judges got involved. 'Life is life' would be inhumane and in violation of international treaties. In 2017, the Advisory Board on Life Imprisonment went to work. Hope glimmered for Frenkie P. that he would one day have a free life again. In 2019, the Venlon native P. received the lid on his nose. He allegedly gave the college "no confidence that things would go well, given his personality and the risk of recidivism. As for himself, P. did himself a disservice when recently he 'by way of a joke' at the prison in Sittard he coughed at two people. This 'coronazonde' earned him fourteen days of solitary confinement and a transfer to the prison in Arnhem.
As long as the policy - procedure and evaluation criteria - are not changed, the cell door seems to remain closed permanently. Frenkie P. is fighting for a better prospect on Tuesday.
