64 year old Peter de Vries was shot in Amsterdam last week. Now the TV station reports RTL that he is dead from the injuries.
– Peter fought in the end, but failed to win the battle. We are incredibly proud of him and at the same time inconsolable, his relatives write in a statement.
The journalist is known for writing about serious Dutch crime. He has previously needed police protection and has been hunted by criminals for a number of years.
He describes the Dutch broadcaster NOS as the journalist who would not give way to anyone or anything. He had been a guest as a crime expert in the TV show RTL Boulevard the night he was shot.
People came and laid flowers on the street where Peter de Vries was shot.
Photo: Ramon Van Flymen / AFP
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Two men arrested
The attack on De Vries was met with strong condemnation. The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has sworn that they will get hold of the person behind this. EU President Charles Michel called the shooting “an attack on our values”.
Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus has said that it will be investigated whether the authorities had done enough to ensure the journalist’s safety.
Two men were arrested shortly after the shooting. On Friday, they were remanded in custody for two weeks. One of them, a 21-year-old Dutch man, is suspected of having shot the 64-year-old, while a 35-year-old Polish man living in the Netherlands is suspected of having driven the getaway car.
Family members of the 21-year-old has told that he was promised 150,000 euros, over 1.5 million kroner, by a criminal gang to kill De Vries.
Drugs
De Vries has recently been an adviser to one of the prosecution’s star witnesses in the case against the alleged drug lord Ridouan Taghi.
Moroccan-born Taghi, who has long been the most wanted man in the Netherlands, was arrested in Dubai in December 2019 and extradited to the Netherlands a few days later. He is now on trial, accused of ordering several murders and attempted murders.
More murders
The star witness’s lawyer, Derek Wiersum, was shot and killed outside his home in September 2019 after repeatedly demanding better protection for himself and the client.
The witness’s brother was killed when it became known who the prosecution’s star witness was in the case against Taghi.
De Vries himself was threatened with death several times and at times had police protection. In 2016, he reported death threats he received from one of the men involved in the abduction of beer magnate Freddy Heineken.
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