Over the past seven years, the number of requests for further investigation filed each year has been decreasing slightly compared to previous years. Following the introduction of the Reform of Criminal Case Review Rules for the Benefit of Former Suspects Act on 1 October 2012, two requests for further investigation were received in 2012. In the years thereafter, the numbers were as follows: eleven in 2013, nine in 2014, eight in 2015, seven in 2016, three in 2017, two in 2018, none in 2019, four in 2020, two in 2021 and three in 2022.
No requests for further investigation were received in 2023.
Earlier requests
In 2023, seven requests from previous years were still being handled.
The ACAS (Advisory Committee on Concluded Criminal Cases) recommended in 2022 that two requests from 2021 and one request from 2020 be rejected. With regard to the request from 2020 and a request from 2021, the convict's attorney requested an additional period for responding to the opinion. As regards the other request from 2021, the ACAS issued its opinion in November 2022. Following the opinion of the ACAS, the requests were denied during the reporting year.
In three requests from 2022, the ACAS issued its opinion on interrelated cases. These requests were allowed in the reporting year following the opinion of the ACAS. In each case, the requests concern a 1995 conviction to a 10-year prison sentence for co-perpetration of voluntary manslaughter. Following review applications granted by the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal – briefly put – maintained the convictions. In 2017, the Supreme Court rejected the appeals in cassation lodged against those convictions.
A request from 2018 regarding a 2011 conviction for war crimes during the armed conflict in Rwanda in 1994 carrying a life sentence in prison was sent to the ACAS for an opinion in 2018. The ACAS issued its opinion in the reporting year. At the start of 2024 the request was allowed in part, following the opinion of the ACAS. Read more here.
Review to the detriment of the former suspect
The law also provides for the special option of reviewing, at the request of the Board of the Public Prosecution Service, an irrevocable final decision by a Dutch court which resulted in the acquittal or dismissal of all criminal charges against the former suspect. Such a request has never led to a review that worked to the detriment of the former suspect. There were no reviews in 2023 that were detrimental to the former suspect.
- Voorwoord
- Een zaak van begin tot eind
- Ashe Sahebdin, dossierbehandelaar
- Timon Tisseur, gerechtssecretaris
- Madhvi Ramparichan, wetenschappelijk medewerker
- Sanaz Kousedghi, wetenschappelijk medewerker
- Ton Hartlief, advocaat-generaal
- Annemarie ter Heide, raadsheer
- Rachel Prevoo, documentalist
- Hester Wattendorff en Edgar du Perron, persraadsheren
- De Hoge Raad
- Contacten met de wetgever
- Het parket bij de Hoge Raad
- Cassatie in het belang der wet
- Herziening
- Schorsing en ontslag van rechters
- Strafrechtelijke vervolging van bewindspersonen of Kamerleden
- Toezicht op het Openbaar Ministerie
- Toezicht verwerking persoonsgegevens gerechten en parket bij de Hoge Raad
- Externe klachtzaken
- Interne klachtzaken
- Aanwijzen ander gerecht
- Betekening van exploten
- Overige correspondentie
- Samenstelling parket 31-12-2023
- Bedrijfsvoering
- Annual report
- The Supreme Court
- The Civil Division
- The Criminal Division
- The Tax Division
- Law of the European Union
- The Fourth Division
- Internal complaint cases
- Contacts with the legislator
- The Procurator General’s Office at the Supreme Court
- Cassation in the interest of the law
- Review
- Supervision of the Public Prosecution Service (OM)
- Right of complaint (external authority)
- Other correspondence