An Eritrean man was convicted of running a migrant smuggling operation and sentenced to 20 years in jail by a court in Zwolle on Tuesday.

The case against Amanuel W, better known as Tewelde Goitom, is one of the largest human smuggling cases ever heard by a court in the Netherlands.

The ruling emphasised “the particularly cruel, violent, and degrading treatment to which the defendant and his accomplices subjected the migrants” when giving the 42-year-old the maximum sentence. He was also ordered to pay a total of over €30,000 in damages to the victims.

Amanuel W extorted the relatives of migrants trapped in camps in Libya en route to Europe from East Africa. He was extradited from Ethiopia in 2022, after being convicted there on human smuggling charges and sentenced to 18 years in jail.

During the trial, judges were told about the smuggling camps in Libya, where victims were held until their families handed over large sums of money to the smugglers. The relatives were shown horrific images of their loved ones being tortured and raped until bribes were received

Prosecutors argued that because family members who paid the money to get their relatives released were located in the Netherlands, the Dutch court has jurisdiction.

Earlier this year, the Dutch national rapporteur on human trafficking examined 124 witness statements in connection with the investigation.

The investigation lasted several years, and the Netherlands received assistance from Interpol, Europol, and the International Criminal Court.