Holleeder guilty, nine years for blackmail

Friday 21 December 2007

Crime boss Willem Holleeder was sentenced to nine years in jail by an Amsterdam court on Friday afternoon for his part in blackmailing of three property tycoons.

Holleeder was also found guilty of leading a criminal organisation, money laundering and assault.

The public prosecution department had called on the court to sentence Holleeder to 12 years in jail. Holleeder’s lawyer Jan-Hein Kuijpers said his client is ‘very disappointed’ and plans to appeal.

Five of his co-defendants were sentenced to between 240 hours of community service and 33 months in jail. Three others were found not guilty.

The trial is the result of a three-year investigation into Holleeder who was jailed in the 1980s for kidnapping beer magnate Freddie Heineken.

The current case against him was largely based on witness testimony. The most damning were recorded statements given by property tycoon and blackmail victim Willem Endstra, who was murdered in 2004. A second blackmail victim, Kees Houtman, was murdered in 2005. The third victim, Rolf Friedländer, denies he was blackmailed, according to NOS tv.

Holleeder’s trial began earlier this year but was halted after he developed serious heart trouble. The hearings resumed in September. In early October key witness Bram Zeegers died of a drugs overdose just days after giving evidence.

© DutchNews.nl

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