A 44-year-old woman from Enschede has been convicted by the police court in Almelo for justifying the Holocaust. She received a community service sentence of sixty hours, half of which is conditional. This is the first conviction under a law that was added to the Criminal Code on October 1, 2024.
On October 6, 2024 - a year after Hamas supporters entered Israel - hundreds participated in a silent march from the center of Enschede to the synagogue to raise awareness of anti-Semitism. As the woman rode her bike past the march, she shouted several times: “Death to all Jews, Heil Hitler.” When she repeated these words near the synagogue, she was arrested by the police.
The case against the 44-year-old woman from Enschede was heard on Friday, January 10, at the police court in Almelo. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) in East Netherlands had summoned the woman on suspicion of violating the law that criminalizes the justification of international crimes. She was also suspected of inciting violence against a group of people (Article 137d Sr).
Convicted for Both Offenses
The police judge sentenced the woman to sixty hours of community service, half of which is conditional. A special condition was attached to the sentence: if she reports to the synagogue within six months and submits a report of her visit to probation services, she will not have to complete the thirty hours of service.
This is the first time someone has been convicted under this new law, Article 137c (2) Sr. This law explicitly criminalizes justifying, denying, or trivializing genocides, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
This press release is issued by the OM in Amsterdam, the office where the National Expertise Center for Discrimination (LECD) of the OM is located.