Mohammed Bouyeri

Mohammed Bouyeri (b. March 8 1978), the convicted murderer of Theo van Gogh, a controversial Dutch film director, is currently serving a life sentence without parole. He holds both Dutch and Moroccan citizenship. His parents are first-generation immigrants. Bouyeri used the pen name "Abu Zubair" for writing and translating. On the Internet he often posted letters and sent e-mail under this name. He claims to have murdered van Gogh to fulfill his duty as a Muslim.

His trial

The trial against Bouyeri took two days on July 11 and 12, 2005, in a high-security building in Amsterdam-Osdorp. In a letter on July 8, he announced that he would not attend the trial voluntarily. The Prosecutor demanded of the court that he be forcibly transported to the courthouse. This request was accepted by the court. Bouyeri's lawyers did attend the trail; they did not, however, ask questions or make closing statements.

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In the Dutch law system, a Prosecutor demands a punishment in a requisitoir. Presenting the requisitoir to the court took 4 hours, at the end of which the demand was presented which read (unabridged):

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:The defendent rejects our democracy. He even wants to bring down our democracy. With violence. He is insistent. To this day. He sticks to his views with perseverence. This calls for a strong response. By literally placing him outside our democracy. This means that he will not be allowed to vote. This means deprivation of active and passive suffrage. Taking everything into consideration, the severity of the facts, the underlying circumstances, and the personality of the defendant, I find only one punishment suitable and that is life imprisonment. http://www.om.nl/info/document.php?id=717

Related Topics:
Suffrage - Life imprisonment

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On July 26, 2005, Bouyeri received a life sentence without parole.

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Life imprisonment is the severest punishment in the Netherlands and is always without parole. Bouyeri is only the 28th person to receive this punishment since 1945, excluding war criminals. Life sentence is ordinarily seen only with multiple-homicide cases, but a new law introduced in 2004 also qualifies leaders of terrorist organisations. In addition, the Wet terroristische misdrijven ("terrorist crimes law", in effect since August 10, 2004), also states that, if there is a terrorist motive for a crime, the term can be increased by half. Imprisonments ordinarily in excess of 15 years can be upgraded to life imprisonment, as was the case with Bouyeri.

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