Members of parliament: no new deals with key witnesses for the time being 06:00 in Politics Government party D66 and part of the opposition want the system to be improved first. They are responding to a harsh report from the Dutch Safety Board.

Part of the House of Representatives wants the Public Prosecution Service to stop making deals with crown witnesses for the time being. According to government party D66 and the opposition parties PvdA, SP, GroenLinks and Denk, the “base” must first be put in order.

Last Wednesday, the Dutch Safety Board published a damning report about the three liquidations involving crown witness Nabil B. According to the council, many mistakes have been made and the system of surveillance and security needs to be overhauled. On Friday, deputy chief of police Huyzer said that the police cannot handle the security of any new crown witnesses at the moment.

Yesilgöz previously proposed expansion

Minister Yesilgöz of Justice and Security announced in November that she wants to expand the scheme for crown witnesses, so that less serious criminals can also fall under it. But part of the Chamber sees nothing in that.

“New deals with crown witnesses cannot be discussed at the moment, let alone expansion of the crown witness scheme on the old foundation,” say MPs Sneller (D66), Van Nispen (SP) Mutluer (PvdA) , Ellemeet (GroenLinks) and Azarkan (Denk).

Yesilgöz did announce reforms on Wednesday, but the parties believe that the minister should have reacted more sharply to the findings of the Dutch Safety Board and the police. “A well-functioning monitoring and security system is a precondition for being able to conclude deals with crown witnesses, but the set-up of the crown witness scheme itself also needs improvement,” say the MPs.