Dutch Public Prosecution Service starts criminal proceedings against Pakistani national for attempted instigation to murder
The Prosecution Service in The Hague decided to prosecute a 37-year-old man from Pakistan before a court of law. The suspect is charged with offering about 21,000 euros for the murder of a Dutch Member of Parliament in 2018. He did so by posting a video on the internet containing the aforementioned message. The Prosecution Service considers this to be an attempt to instigate murder, incitement and threat to murder which is a punishable act under the Dutch Penal Code.
In order to deliver the summons to appear in court, a request for legal assistance has been handed over today to the authorities of Pakistan, asking for the deliverance of these papers to the suspect who resides in Pakistan.
There is no existing treaty for the execution of requests for legal assistance between the Netherlands and Pakistan. Such treaties are most commonly based on the principle of reciprocity. It is not clear at this time if the Pakistan authorities will agree to the execution of the request. An earlier request for legal assistance from the Netherlands to question the suspect in this case remains unanswered.
In general, it is often very complicated to identify and prosecute persons who commit criminally punishable threats when these threats are made by individuals in countries that have no treaties for legal assistance with the Netherlands. Most threats on social media are made under pseudonyms. The identity of the users of a social media account can only be supplied by the social media company involved. These companies do not always cooperate with requests made by the Dutch authorities.
In the event of cooperation from the social media company, further investigation must then be carried out in the country of residence of the suspect in order to identify the person that actually posted the message. An account may well have been used by another person. The chances of cooperation within an acceptable time frame to requests for legal assistance without its bases in a treaty are very slim.
However, in this particular case the suspect was identified. He is a well-known person in his country of residence and as a result the Dutch police were able to identify him based on images on the internet. In the summons the suspect is called to appear in court. The court has scheduled the criminal case for August 29, 2023, 1:30 p.m., to be held at the Schiphol Judicial Complex in Badhoevedorp in the Netherlands.
