Regulation makes life sentences now possible in the Netherlands
PHILIPSBURG – The Supreme Court in The Hague wrote history on Monday with a ruling that establishes that imposing life imprisonment is possible in the Netherlands. Before this ruling, life sentences were routinely thrown out because they violated article 3 of the European Human Rights Treaty.
Based on the same argument, the Common Court of Justice threw out the life sentences against Sherwan Roberts and Curley Allison Richards in Philipsburg on September 18, 2012. Instead, the court sentenced the so-called Regatta-killers to the maximum temporary prison sentence of 30 years. With good behavior, the two men will now be released after twenty years.
During what the prosecution at the time called “a week of terror” Richards and Roberts killed Ludovic Guillevin, Eduardo Nova Valdez and Foidel Luis; they also gang-raped a young woman and committed several armed robberies.
Also in 2012, the Parliament of St. Maarten took the ill-advised decision to remove article 28 from the new penal code. That article regulates the right of review of life sentences after 25 years. The European Human Rights Treaty says that life imprisonment is only possible if there are provisions in place in the law for a sentence review. But MPs George Pantophlet and Leroy de Weever supported removal of article 28 with the non-argument “a life sentence is a life sentence.”
The Ombudsman submitted the penal code for review to the Constitutional Court. It found that removing the article was unconstitutional. Parliament was forced to reintroduce it into the law, but for the sentencing of Richards and Roberts this amendment came too late: the Appeals Court had already thrown out their life sentences.
The Supreme Court has now added a new dimension to the issue. The Netherlands designed a regulation for the review of life sentences and according to the court that regulation meets the requirements of the European Human Rights Treaty. St. Maarten does not need such a regulation due to the reinstatement of article 28 in the penal code.
State Secretary of Safety and Justice Klaas Dijkhoff published on June 6 the decree Advisory Board Life Sentences (Adviescollege Levenslanggestraften). It stipulates that no longer than 27 years after the beginning of the execution of a life sentence there is a possibility for a pardon.
The attorney-general at the Supreme Court, Machielse, concludes in Monday’s ruling that Dutch law now meets the requirements of the European Human Rights Treaty.
The ruling also addresses the role of civil and penitentiary judges.
The regulation stipulates that the minister of Safety and Justice assesses the possibility of a pardon 27 years after the beginning of the detention. The inmate also has the possibility to ask for a pardon. The law that regulates pardons (Gratiewet) does not say within what time the minister has to take a decision. If that takes too long, the inmate can go to civil court and ask it to set a deadline. The civil court also has the power to review a negative decision.
The first advice by the Advisory Board Life Sentences about possible re-integration activities and re-integration release takes place after 25 years. Before that time, the inmate must be able to re-socialize within the prison, for instance through work and education. The inmate is also entitled to fitting medical and psychiatric care. The Council for the Administration of Criminal Law and Youth Protection reviews as the penitentiary judge decisions related to re-socialization activities within the prison and refusals of re-integration release.
