Dutch crime reporter fights for his life after shooting
Published: 04:07 PM,Jul 07,2021 | EDITED : 08:07 PM,Jul 07,2021
Peter R. de Vries
Berlin: Two men have been identified as suspects in the attack on high-profile Dutch crime reporter Peter R de Vries, Amsterdam police said on Wednesday.
A 35-year-old living in Maurik in the south-east of the country and a21-year-old from Rotterdam were arrested on a highway 60 kilometres from Amsterdam a few hours after the attack, police said.
They are set to be arraigned on Friday.
A third man who was arrested on Tuesday night was released again and did not have anything to do with the attack, police said.
During raids in Maurik, Rotterdam and Tiel, police seized computers and ammunition.
Leading crime reporter de Vries was shot after leaving a television studio in Amsterdam and is currently in hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The Dutch royal family on Wednesday strongly condemned the attack, which shocked the country, prompting TV channels to air special reports about the case.
The incident was 'an attack on journalism,' King Willem-Alexander said on Wednesday in an interview broadcast by NOS.
Journalism is 'a cornerstone of our democracy. This is also an attack on our constitutional state,' the king said.
Speaking in front of Dutch journalists, the king also expressed his compassion. 'It must be horrible when this happens to a colleague.'
De Vries is a leading crime reporter in the Netherlands and also regularly appears as a spokesperson for victims or witnesses at trials.
Currently, he is the confidant of the key witness in a major trial against organized crime. In connection with the trial, the lawyer of the state witness was also shot in 2019.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called for an 'immediate, complete resolution' of the attempted murder.
'The authorities have to assess whether de Vries became a victim of organized crime because of his critical and fearless journalistic activity,' RSF chief Christian Mihr said in Berlin.
Het Parool daily newspaper quoted a resident as saying she heard five shots and went out to see what had happened.
She said she saw de Vries lying on the ground with a lot of blood on his face.
She told the paper that he couldn't speak but was still alive, and that she held his hand as they waited for emergency services.
In the past de Vries had been given police protection after receiving threats related to his involvement in high-profile criminal cases as a reporter and in court.
One such case was the 1983 abduction of beer magnate Freddy Heineken. His book on the case was later made into a film starring Anthony Hopkins.
In 2016, De Vries filed a death threat complaint against one of the men involved in the kidnapping, notorious gangster Willem Holleeder.
He won an international Emmy for cracking the mystery of what happened to a US teen who disappeared from the Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005.
Security around the case against Taghi is extra-tight as in 2019, Nabil B's lawyer Derk Wiersum was gunned down in the street outside his house. -- Agencies
A 35-year-old living in Maurik in the south-east of the country and a21-year-old from Rotterdam were arrested on a highway 60 kilometres from Amsterdam a few hours after the attack, police said.
They are set to be arraigned on Friday.
A third man who was arrested on Tuesday night was released again and did not have anything to do with the attack, police said.
During raids in Maurik, Rotterdam and Tiel, police seized computers and ammunition.
Leading crime reporter de Vries was shot after leaving a television studio in Amsterdam and is currently in hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The Dutch royal family on Wednesday strongly condemned the attack, which shocked the country, prompting TV channels to air special reports about the case.
The incident was 'an attack on journalism,' King Willem-Alexander said on Wednesday in an interview broadcast by NOS.
Journalism is 'a cornerstone of our democracy. This is also an attack on our constitutional state,' the king said.
Speaking in front of Dutch journalists, the king also expressed his compassion. 'It must be horrible when this happens to a colleague.'
De Vries is a leading crime reporter in the Netherlands and also regularly appears as a spokesperson for victims or witnesses at trials.
Currently, he is the confidant of the key witness in a major trial against organized crime. In connection with the trial, the lawyer of the state witness was also shot in 2019.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called for an 'immediate, complete resolution' of the attempted murder.
'The authorities have to assess whether de Vries became a victim of organized crime because of his critical and fearless journalistic activity,' RSF chief Christian Mihr said in Berlin.
Het Parool daily newspaper quoted a resident as saying she heard five shots and went out to see what had happened.
She said she saw de Vries lying on the ground with a lot of blood on his face.
She told the paper that he couldn't speak but was still alive, and that she held his hand as they waited for emergency services.
In the past de Vries had been given police protection after receiving threats related to his involvement in high-profile criminal cases as a reporter and in court.
One such case was the 1983 abduction of beer magnate Freddy Heineken. His book on the case was later made into a film starring Anthony Hopkins.
In 2016, De Vries filed a death threat complaint against one of the men involved in the kidnapping, notorious gangster Willem Holleeder.
He won an international Emmy for cracking the mystery of what happened to a US teen who disappeared from the Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005.
Security around the case against Taghi is extra-tight as in 2019, Nabil B's lawyer Derk Wiersum was gunned down in the street outside his house. -- Agencies