When the judges leave the courtroom and settle down in the council chamber, they look at each other.
The youngest judge sighs.
The elder looks at him meaningfully.
Tough decision guys, says the chairman, but I'm sure they'll understand.
The youngest judge wonders.
Careful: "Don't we have to explain this?
The chairman: "What do you mean?
The youngest: 'Well explain why we decided to send the two suspects home while they remain suspects. Maybe society will find that strange.'
Chairman: "Well, there you go.
Meanwhile, the eldest judge packs his things together.
Says, "Guys, you figure it out. I'm going home. It seems to me that this is more in the way of the prosecution.'
The youngest judge: 'Well no. The prosecution only reports when suspects are arrested, never when they are released. They do look link out.'
The elder judge gives the chairman a firm clap on the shoulder, says "Greetings home" and "See you Monday.
Says, "I'm going to blow some more leaves.
So much for free thoughts from the secret council chamber.
Now about the free suspects.
The judges had a long time to think about it in chambers.
When judges have to think for a long time, it is often in favor of defendants.
A no is quicker to motivate than a yes.
The lawyers had asked the court to release their clients, the defendants, by lifting the pretrial detention.
The two men have been detained for six months on suspicion of committing a robbery of a Turkish store in Hoogezand.
In that robbery, an employee was shot, leaving the man very seriously injured.
It happened in March this year, the victim has still not recovered.
The robbery caused a stir in Hoogezand where there were more incidents of violence.
Even the City Council announced measures to combat serious crime.
The chief prosecutor on April 28 offered a reward of 7,500 euros for the golden tip in this matter.
And lo and behold, not much later Vincent (24) and Bernard (20) are arrested.
There is little technical evidence, but there are many statements from witnesses.
Based on those statements, the two men go under lock and key.
That was six months ago now.
On Thursday, the lawsuit was filed.
Vincent and Bernard deny.
They have nothing to do with it, they say.
Two men had stormed into the store around 8:30 a.m. on March 25, disguised and with guns drawn.
They demand money, shouting, "loot, loot!
The son resists, pushing one of the robbers over, so over the vegetable count.
When the robber gets up, he shoots.
The son is struck in the chest and abdomen.
The robbers then made off without money.
Police are conducting a neighborhood investigation.
Names of possible perpetrators are trickling in from the criminal circuit.
There are witnesses who come forward spontaneously.
A T-shirt is found on the possible escape route.
There is a lot of DNA on that, including Bernard's, in the sense that it could be Bernard's.
Two months after the robbery and a month after that reward is offered, Bernard and Vincent are arrested.
Their phones were tapped.
That yielded no incriminating information.
A conversation between the two was overheard while they were in police custody, however.
Cops hear them say, "We're being framed, people are talking shit.
There is a witness whose status is "important.
She had been summoned to appear in court but did not show up.
As a result, the criminal case could not be completed Thursday.
First this witness must be heard, then the trial can resume.
That is not expected to be within three months.
Fine with me, says attorney Serge Weening, who is assisting Vincent.
But then I ask the court to lift the remand.
Because delay means further detention of my client who is innocent and therefore should be acquitted.
Attorney Oskar Schuur defending Bernard makes the same request for the same reason.
The judges duck into the chambers and stay away for a long time.
So the longer the more beneficial, you see Weening and Schuur thinking after a while.
After half an hour, the judges return.
Judges say the pretrial detention of Vincent and Bernard will be lifted with immediate effect.
They say, "European jurisprudence forces us to make this decision this way.
Vincent and Bernard are now free suspects.
Everyone in the courtroom is surprised, including the two lawyers.
Vincent and Bernard perhaps most of all.
They may now await the remainder of the criminal trial at liberty.
It is hoped that the denying men will voluntarily return to court in a few months.
As the judges retire back to the chambers, the prosecutor looks somewhat sourly ahead.
The Turkish family looks distraught.
In a victim statement, the shot son had written that he and his family are going crazy with fear and are considering moving as soon as the perpetrators are released.
Why are suspects of a very serious crime released while remaining suspects?
A few students in the public gallery say to each other that they don't understand a thing.
You?
Now I'm not a lawyer, but I think it's like this.
Anyone suspected of a crime may be remanded in custody.
Actually, you are then innocently detained because the judge has not yet ruled.
But you are justifiably innocent because there are suspicions pointing toward guilt.
The law established strict rules to rightly deprive innocent people of liberty.
And the longer pretrial detention lasts, the more stringent the criteria for detaining someone become.
Vincent and Bernard were arrested based on statements from witnesses.
These are usually not the strongest evidence to convict someone.
There is still something to be added.
And that "something more" is not there after six months.
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the longer pretrial detention continues, the more the interests of suspects - being free - become more important.
And vice versa.
The longer a person is on remand, the more convincingly the prosecution must demonstrate that it is better for everyone.
And that didn't happen here.
And so, as suspects, the two men were allowed to go home immediately.
I think it's like this.
Be it that the judges or the prosecution themselves can of course explain this much better.
