The court in Amsterdam largely acquitted journalist Jelle Brandt Corstius of libel against TV producer Gijs van Dam on Wednesday afternoon. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) had demanded a suspended community service of sixty hours against the journalist. The court did not agree.
In 2017, Brandt Corstius wrote in an article by Fidelity that he had been drugged and forced into oral sex early in his television career. Although the journalist had not mentioned who it would be, it soon became known that Van Dam was the alleged perpetrator.
The journalist filed a report, but Van Dam was not prosecuted. The OM concluded that there were no grounds for prosecution.
Van Dam has admitted that he had sex with Brandt Corstius once, but according to him there was no coercion. The producer decided to file a libel claim because of the reputational damage he suffered.
In total, Van Dam filed six reports against Brandt Corstius in the period between October 2017 and November 2020. The Public Prosecution Service dismissed his defamation reports earlier. On appeal, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal ordered the Public Prosecution Service to prosecute.
Brandt Corstius was not present at the verdict, which the court called a pity. There is no acquittal on all counts. After Fidelityarticle, Brandt Corstius made two other statements about Van Dam. The court found this libelous, but the journalist will not be punished for it because they fall within the freedom of expression.
