It concerns a case in which eight demonstrators are suspected of sedition by calling for the highway to be blocked. They are in court today.
Agent ‘Inge’
An agent infiltrated the chat at messaging service Signal under the name ‘Inge’ and pretended to be an activist. In addition, an informant passed on the names of organizers of the protest, according to the criminal file.
The police have the power to secretly watch messages if the maintenance of public order is at stake. The Public Prosecution Service may use this information. What is not described in black and white is in which cases the heavy remedy is justified.
An expert says in Trouw that this form of investigation is mainly used with terrorist suspects. “It is striking that the police are now using it in a legal, peaceful movement. Incitement is a serious crime, which can use heavy means. But these methods have not been developed for protesters,” says lawyer Tamara Buruma, who specializes in incitement. .
Willem Jebbink, the activists’ lawyer, will argue that the judge will take a good look at how the investigation into his clients took place. “I have never encountered working with informants and virtual agents in the fifteen years that I have assisted activists.” , he says in Trouw.
