Hardi N., prime suspect in the criminal case involving an Arnhem terror cell, had no independent plans to commit a terrorist attack. His willingness to commit an attack was triggered by undercover agents of the AIVD, which N. provoked.
"Ultimately, therefore, the AIVD itself created this danger," N.'s lawyer Serge Weening argued in court in Rotterdam on Monday.
In June, the prosecution demanded 18 years in prison against 36-year-old N., who is on trial with five co-defendants. The prosecution believes that by rolling up the terror cell - in September 2018 - the Netherlands escaped a bloody jihadist attack similar to the one in Paris in November 2015.
"That sticks with the public," Weening said, "and if the prosecution says that, it must be true." The case, according to the counsel, was "finished" when images came out about a meeting between undercover police officers and the suspects, in a vacation home in Weert. There, weapons and bomb vests (disarmed by the police) were inspected. After the meeting in the bungalow, a special unit trapped and arrested the suspects.
Weening argued that N. was impressionable at the time and that his Islamic beliefs were strongly determined by "those with whom he talked about the faith." One of the undercovers talked to N. in such a way that he became convinced that as a "good Muslim" he should take up jihad in the Netherlands and was prepared to carry out an attack. "I was provoked and brainwashed," N. himself has previously said about this. N. was previously convicted of an exit attempt to the Caliphate proclaimed by Islamic State.
Without the AIVD's interference, N. would never have come this far, the lawyer said. The prosecution should have demonstrated, he believes, that there was no incitement but failed to do so. "What the prosecution has actually mainly done is to wave away that hypothesis and thwart all attempts by the defense to put its story across."
The entrapment should have consequences for the criminal case, Weening believes. The judge could declare the prosecution's case invalid, or disregard the evidence produced by the undercover action.
https://www.telegraaf.nl/nieuws/328841892/advocaat-aivd-lokte-hardi-n-uit-tot-maken-aanslagplannen
Maastricht - How the bassist of the Heideroosjes came into the picture in a child pornography case, the justice department will not say now. The
Heerlen/Stein - A data breach at telecom provider T-Mobile (now Odido) led to the theft of at least 112,000 euros worth of crypto currency.
Kerkrade - One of the two suspects in the robbery murder of Fabian Esser (33) on June 23, 2022 in Kerkrade
Brunssum - A 15-year-old investigation into an aggravated assault in Heerlen has been cracked open thanks to a DNA match. In November
The court sentenced a 58-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman from Apeldoorn for a series of arson attacks in their hometown. They
HELMOND - Jahangir A. is serving a 10-year prison sentence for the manslaughter of Els Slurink of Groningen, but had to be
Police have arrested three men for the stabbing Monday morning in Sittard that injured two people. Three men from
Roermond - Ivo T. (32) of Born was acquitted by the court in Roermond of abusing a 15-year-old
