Aydin C. will hear today whether he should go to jail in the Netherlands for extorting Canadian Amanda Todd. She took her own life in 2012 at the age of fifteen because of a nude photo. What was it like in this case?
This is an updated version of the article that appeared on NU.nl in August 2022.
The case of 15-year-old Amanda Todd became world news in 2012. That was due to a nine-minute video that the Canadian teen had posted online shortly before her death.
In that video, Todd tells her story using cards with lyrics on them. It can be read that she was blackmailed for years with a photo of her breasts. She made a man out of her when they were webcamming. Partly because of that photo, she was bullied and abused by classmates for years.
The video was widely shared after Todd’s suicide in October 2012. The world was shocked. Todd soon became the face of sextortion, a form of blackmail in which a blackmailer threatens to post someone’s nudes online.
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In January 2014, the Dutch police arrested a suspect: Aydin C. from Tilburg. He was handcuffed at a holiday park in Oisterwijk.
The police caught C. after a tip from Facebook. He had a large number of profiles on the social media network. The case turned out to be bigger than just Todd: by placing spyware on his computers, the police saw how C. blackmailed dozens of people online. She also found child pornography.
C. appeared before a court in the Netherlands in 2018, who sentenced him to ten years and 243 days in prison. That’s the worst punishment he could get.
According to the court, C. is guilty of digital stalking and extortion of 33 people. Among them were dozens of underage girls, a woman and five men from the Netherlands, Norway, England, the United States and Canada. The youngest girls were only nine years old when C. started talking to them.
C. was also convicted of making and distributing child pornography, fraud, identity fraud, computer trespass and drug possession.
Lawyer Robert Malewicz at the Amsterdam court in 2017, where C. was convicted of extorting 33 victims.Photo: ANP
During the trial it was noticed that C. refused to speak. “All I want to say is that everything has already been said by my lawyer,” said C. at the end of the case. De Tilburger previously denied in a letter to, among others RTL News to be responsible. His lawyers therefore demanded an acquittal. But the court did not agree.
Canada sentenced C. last October to 13 years in prison for extortion and intimidation of Todd. The country wanted to prosecute C. itself in the Todd case. That only happened last year, after a squabble about extradition of C. Even the Supreme Court had to be involved.
In the end, he decided that the Netherlands could extradite C. to Canada, on condition that he can serve his sentence in the Netherlands.
The question is what kind of sentence C. still has to serve in the Netherlands. In September 2024, C. has already served the Dutch sentence for extorting his victims other than Todd. But what should happen with the thirteen years imposed by Canada?
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) wants C. to serve that sentence. The judiciary does want to convert the Canadian sentence to Dutch standards. That would mean that C. would not have to go to prison for 12 years, but another 4.5 years.
C.’s lawyer, Robert Malewicz, disagrees. He thinks it is unfair that the extortion of the 33 victims and of Todd have become two separate matters. The cases are closely intertwined, says the lawyer.
C. has already served the maximum sentence in 2024 for extortion of his other victims. That is why the lawyer prefers to see the extra 4.5 years in prison converted into zero days. “The penalty ceiling has been reached.”
Are you thinking of suicide? You are not alone. Contact 113 Suicide Prevention at www.113.nl or call 113 (local rate) or 0800-0113 (free).
2023-07-13 03:11:40
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