Do you remember the murder of Peter R. de Vries? How about when Princess Amalia was kept from leaving the house due to threats to her well-being? Well, the criminal allegedly tied to these crimes just got sentenced to life in prison.
The man in question? Ridouan Taghi, one the Netherland’s most notorious criminals.
Along with seventeen other suspects, he was on trial for nearly six whole years.
Did you know? The Netherlands is the only European country where life imprisonment is actually life-long. It is the toughest sentence that judges in the Netherlands can impose, and is only given very rarely.
What crimes did he commit?
Ridouan Taghi was at the head of ‘a well-oiled murder organisation’, according to the Public Prosecution Service (OM).
This group is allegedly responsible for six murders between the years 2015 and 2017, four attempted murders and preparations for even more assassinations.
What’s most interesting, however, is that the crimes were committed as the trial was ongoing. As the NOS writes, these include:
- The murder of the brother of Nabil B., who was named as crown witness to the case in early 2018,
- The murder of Nabil B.’s lawyer, Derk Wiersum, in 2019,
- The murder of Peter R. de Vries in 2021, who was Nabil B.’s close confidant.
The so-called ‘Marengo trial’ also imposed sentences upon 17 other suspects.
These sentences range from life sentences (for two of Taghi’s closest co-criminals), to just one year and 9 months.
(Fun fact: Although this is one of the most important criminal trials to have ever taken place in the Netherlands, its name was randomly generated by a computer.)
READ MORE | 7 notorious Dutch criminals that will leave you shaking in your clogs
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