Prosecutors Seek Longer Terms In Dutch Drug Baron Case

Dutch prosecutors will file appeals aimed at lengthening prison terms for seven defendants convicted in a major trial that put one of the nation's most powerful drug barons in jail for life

The Hague, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Mar, 2024) Dutch prosecutors will file appeals aimed at lengthening prison terms for seven defendants convicted in a major trial that put one of the nation's most powerful drug barons in jail for life.

The announcement Tuesday came a day after lawyers for Ridouan Taghi, the alleged mastermind behind the Amsterdam-based gang, told Dutch media he would appeal against his life sentence.

"The Public Prosecutor's Office is appealing against seven (sentences) in the case against Ridouan Taghi in the Marengo-process," the office said.

The appeal included sentences handed to two men for whom the prosecution sought life terms, but were subsequently given reduced punishments. The other appeals are against lesser sentences.

Prosecutors added they were satisfied with the outcome of the Marengo case -- named after a judicial codeword for the operation -- including the life sentence handed to Taghi on five counts of murder.

Judges last month dished out sentences ranging from life to one year and nine months as the six-year-long mega-trial ended.

Prosecutors said Taghi and 16 others were part of one of the country's largest cocaine distributors, which left a trail of assassinations in what they referred to as a "well-oiled killing machine".

Taghi's gang was nicknamed the "Mocro-maffia" because its members are mainly of Moroccan and Antillean origin.

Law officials demanded five life sentences for Taghi and four of his accomplices -- but in the end judges handed down only three.

Prosecutors are now appealing a 29-year sentence against a suspect named Achraf B. and a 15-year sentence against Mao R.

"Although the Public Prosecution Service is satisfied with the outcome of the Marengo trial, the court's view on a number of cases and the length of sentences gives rise to an appeal," prosecutors said.

On Monday, Taghi's lawyer Michael Ruperti told Dutch news website NU.nl that his client would appeal against his life sentence.

Taghi was convicted on five counts of murder, mainly of associates suspected of becoming police informants.

The violence surrounding the trial claimed three lives, shocking the Netherlands.

The deaths were all linked to the prosecution's chief witness, Nabil B.: his brother, his lawyer, and his confidant, the well-known Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries.

De Vries was gunned down in broad daylight in an Amsterdam street in 2021.

Taghi was not charged for those murders, but De Vries had said before that he was on Taghi's hit list.

Once the Netherlands' most-wanted fugitive, Taghi was arrested in Dubai in 2019.

Despite being held at an ultra-secure prison, prosecutors say he continued pulling the strings, sending secret messages to henchmen on the outside.