A 32-year-old man from Emmen has been sentenced to two years in prison for threatening former health minister Hugo de Jonge on Facebook.
In September last year, in the evening after a corona press conference, he posted a threatening text on De Jonge’s Facebook page five times. “Hugo de Jonge, bullet through your head and a bomb on the House of Representatives. Everything solved!”, the resident of Emmen posted several times.
A while later he shared the private address of the minister in a video on Facebook and later he posted a message in which he wrote that he was on his way to De Jonge.
The man was arrested in December. He told the police that he did not agree with the corona policy and thought the minister was sowing fear. The man, who is mentally retarded and has psychological problems, was at that time in an institution of the Salvation Army in Emmen, reports RTV Drenthe.
ISD measure
He has been convicted several times, including for threats. The court has now sentenced him to an ISD measure, which stands for Institution Systematic Offenders. It is imposed on people who often make mistakes. Not only will they be jailed, but they will also be examined and treated. The court finds ISD necessary “to protect society and to prevent it from repeating itself”.
According to the court, the man’s behavior has nothing to do with expressing criticism of the corona policy. “This not only affects the minister as a person, but can also have a disruptive effect on the performance of his public task and therefore for democracy.”
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