Over the past six 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 and two in 2018. No requests were received in 2019. Four requests were submitted in 2020 and two in 2021.
In 2022, three requests for further investigation were received in related cases.
In each case, the requests concern a 1995 conviction to a 10-year prison sentence for co-perpetration of voluntary manslaughter. Following granted requests for review by the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, put succinctly, affirmed the 1995 convictions in 2015, after which, in 2017, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals in cassation that were lodged against those affirmations. The requests were sent to the ACAS for its opinion during the reporting year. The ACAS had not issued its advice yet in the reporting year.
In 2022, five requests from previous years were still being handled.
The ACAS recommended in 2022 that two requests from 2021 and one request from 2020 be rejected. With regard to a 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. This request had not been decided on yet in the reporting year.
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 had not issued its opinion in this case yet in the reporting year.
In the “Deventer murder case” – involving a 2000 murder conviction which carried a twelve-year prison sentence and which had been the subject of multiple requests for review – the Advocate General decided as early as in 2014 to order a further investigation. The further investigation was completed in the reporting year. During the reporting year, the convict’s
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 2022 that were detrimental to the former suspect.
- Voorwoord
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Een zaak van begin tot eind
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De Hoge Raad
- Contacten met de wetgever
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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
- Samenstelling Parket 31-12-2022
- Overige correspondentie
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Bedrijfsvoering
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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