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Main suspect Taghi was arrested in Dubai. © Rijnmond
This week the court will rule in the Marengo trial against Ridouan Taghi and 16 co-suspects. Life sentences have been imposed on six of them. Lawyers call Marengo ‘the most toxic trial ever’. Rijnmond marks ten crucial moments in the lawsuit, which lasted no less than six years.
March 23, 2018 – Deal from key witness Nabil B. is announced
After a liquidation in Utrecht, in which the wrong man was shot dead, criminal Nabil B. becomes too hot under his feet. He goes to the police and offers to open the door about Ridouan Taghi’s criminal organization. The two know each other from the Utrecht underworld. Nabil B. does odd jobs for Taghi and has been taken into his confidence, he says. During the failed liquidation, it was he who arranged the getaway cars.
In exchange for his statements, B. wants a reduced sentence. Justice agrees and announces the key witness deal at the very first hearing of the Marengo trial. That is on March 23, 2018. B. is furious that the deal is announced. He calls it ‘life-threatening’, because the main suspect Taghi is still at large. B. is afraid that something will be done to his loved ones in retaliation.
According to him, Taghi, who has worked his way up from a hashish dealer to a major player in the cocaine market, rules with a heavy hand. Anyone who talks to the police or thwarts them in any other way must die. Or, as Taghi also calls it, ‘going to sleep’.
March 29, 2018 – Brother of key witness murdered
Nabil B.’s fear that something will be done to his family appears not to be unfounded. His innocent brother Reduan is shot dead in Amsterdam. The murder leads to great tensions between the key witness and the justice system. Nabil B. threatens to quit if the Public Prosecution Service does not better arrange the security of his family. Ultimately, the justice system manages to keep him on board.
Colleagues mourn the death of lawyer Derk Wiersum © Archive
September 18, 2019 – Liquidation lawyer Derk Wiersum
After the brother of the key witness, B’s lawyer is also murdered. It concerns Derk Wiersum. The liquidation leads to a wave of outrage. Minister of Justice Ferd Grapperhaus calls it ‘an attack on the legal street’. Dozens of lawyers, judges and prosecutors have since been secured. Nabil B. will be without a lawyer for a while.
December 16, 2019 – Ridouan Taghi arrested in Dubai
After intensive investigation, the most wanted criminal in the Netherlands was arrested in December 2019. Taghi appears to have been hiding in a nondescript apartment in Dubai for a long time. The police pick him up with a chartered plane, after which Taghi goes straight to the Extra Secure Institution (EBI) in Vught. His lawyer is the Rotterdam criminal lawyer Inez Weski.
Vught Penitentiary Institution © Judicial Institutions Service
June 4, 2020 – New defense team for the key witness
Lawyer Peter Schouten and crime journalist Peter R. de Vries present themselves as the new defense team of the key witness. Shortly afterwards, lawyer Onno de Jong also joins the team.
De Vries says he cannot refuse Nabil B.’s request for help. He sees his cooperation as an important signal to the murderers of Wiersum and the brother of the key witness. “To indicate that such a crime does not pay and makes no sense, because others take their place.”
March 22, 2021 – Taghi in court for the first time
Ridouan Taghi appears in court for the first time. That is during the interrogation of key witness Nabil B. Lawyers question B’s statements. They call them unreliable. But there is also other evidence against the Utrecht drug baron. The police have intercepted hundreds of thousands of chat messages openly discussing liquidations and other crimes.
Taghi remains silent about the suspicions. “It is better to spend the money from this sham trial on the teacher shortage, on healthcare, on the police shortage, than on me,” he says in an interrogation. “If the judge just gives me a life sentence tomorrow: OK, so be it.”
July 6, 2021 – Rotterdam resident shoots Peter R. de Vries
Peter R. de Vries is shot in the center of Amsterdam. He dies nine days later. According to the justice department, the trigger was pulled by Rotterdammer Delano G., against whom a life sentence has now been imposed. G. was only approached as a shooter on the day of the attack and is said to have accepted the assignment in a telephone conversation of 1 minute and 46 seconds. He was 21 years old at the time.
The Public Prosecution Service assumes that De Vries is the third victim who was killed because of his connection with the key witness. The murders lead to a damning report on the lack of government protection. Lawyers call Marengo ‘the most sick and poisoned trial ever’.
Memorial stone for Peter R de Vries © Archive photo Rijnmond
October 8, 2021 – Arrest of lawyer/cousin Youssef Taghi
During a visit to his uncle in the EBI in Vught, lawyer Youssef Taghi is arrested. Justice suspects that the main suspect in the Marengo trial communicates with the outside world through this criminal lawyer. This would include a violent outbreak from the prison in Vught. According to Youssef Taghi, his uncle put pressure on him. “Not doing as told could have consequences.”
The lawyer is ultimately sentenced to 5.5 years in prison.
April 21, 2023 – Rotterdam lawyer Inez Weski arrested
Inez Weski, who has been assisting Taghi since the beginning of the trial, is arrested. The Public Prosecution Service also suspects her of passing on information to and from Taghi in the ECI. Weski has been detained for more than a month and puts down Taghi’s defense. The investigation into the Rotterdam criminal lawyer is still not completed.
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February 27, 2024 – Final judgment in Marengo
Almost six years and about 130 hearing days after the start of the Marengo trial, the court delivers its verdict. This will happen on Tuesday in De Bunker, the extra-secure court in Amsterdam-Osdorp. Life sentences have been imposed on six of the 17 suspects, including Taghi and his right-hand man Saïd R..
In Marengo it revolved around five liquidations, including crime vlogger Martin Kok and spy shop owner Ronald Bakker. The failed attack on Khalid B. in 2016 in Rotterdam was also part of the process.
The murders of Reduan B., Derk Wiersum and Peter R. de Vries were dealt with in separate trials. The judiciary assumes that Taghi was the initiator of this, but has not prosecuted him for this. The reason is of a practical nature: in the Marengo trial he will most likely be sentenced to life in prison.
Tuesday’s verdicts mean a temporary end to the trial. It has already been established that lawyers will appeal.
The heavily secured court in Amsterdam-Osdorp (‘Bunker’), where the trial against Willem Holleeder was conducted. © Wikipedia
2024-02-25 20:14:57
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