A 39-year-old Rotterdammer who was involved in arson during the Coolsingel riots has been sentenced to four years in prison. The sentence is higher than the justice had demanded, partly because the man already had a criminal record of 41 pages.
The suspect was on trial for passing on a burning torch on November 19 last year and urging others to set fire to it. For example, a police car went up in flames and the adjacent Erasmus House was damaged.
The man told the judge that he was very sorry and that he had an alcohol problem. At the time of the riots, he was imprisoned in Hoogvliet prison, where he was also being treated for his addiction, but was on weekend leave.
Life threatening situation
Justice had demanded three years in prison, but the judge found that according to Rijnmond not fit with these serious facts. During the riots, people were in the Erasmus building and there was a life-threatening situation, the judge reasoned. The Rotterdammer’s criminal record was also cited. He was previously convicted of assaulting the police.
The man also has to pay more than 25,000 euros in damages, because of the damage to the building and the police car that was a total loss. According to the owner of the Erasmus House, there is a total of three tons of damage to the monumental building from 1939.
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