The court in Leeuwarden demanded a 14-month prison sentence, of which 6 months were conditional and a probationary period of two years, against Jan Nieboer from Tweede Exloërmond for sending dozens of threatening letters to companies involved in the construction of two wind farms in Drenthe and Groningen. That requirement is almost the same as that of the court three years ago.
Nieboer continues to deny having been involved in the threatening letters. “My role was to listen and participate in the discussion,” Nieboer repeated what he previously said in court in April 2021. Nieboer said he felt treated like a terrorist dangerous to the state when he was arrested in 2019. He appealed because he believes he was wrongly convicted.
Nieboer and Jan H. from Meeden were sentenced to one year in prison, of which six months were conditional. Nieboer appealed; Jan H. decided against this because he had already served his sentence in pre-trial detention. A printer from Nieuw-Buinen was acquitted of community service in another trial due to lack of evidence.
The leader of protest group Platform Storm and the former leader of Storm Meeden were arrested in 2019, after they were overheard for a long time when they met at McDonalds in Stadskanaal on Thursday mornings and talked extensively about how they would commit the crimes. The aim of the letters was to have the companies stop the construction of Wind Farm De Drentse Monden and Oostermoer in the Drenthe Veenkoloniën and Wind Farm N33 near Meeden.
Nieboer said today at the court in Leeuwarden that he did not know what was on memory sticks that Jan H. asked him to have printed. “In my role as spokesperson for Platform Storm, I did not want to know what was on those sticks. I was only the postman. I did not even see the texts that were printed. The items came back in a closed envelope. I wanted cannot in any way be linked to what was on those sticks.”
The court found that he did take into account the possibility that there was something on the sticks that could not tolerate daylight. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) also pointed to Nieboer’s active role in the printing. Nieboer paid the printer twice and advised the printer to touch the sticks with gloves.
According to him, the address list that Nieboer drew up was for sending a ‘signal letter’ to companies involved in the construction of the wind turbines. The Public Prosecution Service stated that there is indeed a connection between the signal letter, asbestos pamphlets, a black book and threatening letters. “Texts in the threatening letters were found in Nieboer’s notes,” the Public Prosecution Service said.
Furthermore, according to the Public Prosecution Service, the style, layout and attachment of asbestos pamphlets with tie wraps point to expressions of one and the same group and close cooperation between H. and Nieboer.
Furthermore, the court wondered why Nieboer did not counter H.’s statements about buying a firearm and disabling bridges; the judge mentioned the term yes-man. “Why didn’t you go to the police?” Nieboer replied that in retrospect this might have been better. “But I heard a lot of things that didn’t come true,” Nieboer said.
The Public Prosecution Service asked Nieboer about a possible contribution of 3,500 euros from Platform Storm for the purchase of a firearm. “I participated in the discussion about that gun. I said that there was 3,500 euros in Storm’s account. It stopped with that statement,” said the former leader of Platform Storm.
The Public Prosecution Service pointed out the impact of the threatening letters on companies. “It is about intimidating entrepreneurs. They were afraid. The sense of safety has been affected and the suspect is partly responsible for this.” That is why the Public Prosecution Service also found that Nieboer should pay compensation to several companies.
Nieboer’s lawyer Tjalling van der Goot acknowledged that he could be accused of naivety. But otherwise, according to him, Nieboer was mainly ignorant. If Nieboer should receive a punishment, he believes it should be a suspended sentence or community service.
Nieboer spent 43 days in pre-trial detention. He would have to serve another 4.5 months in prison. Because he didn’t want that, he appealed. The Public Prosecution Service also appealed. Nieboer indicated at the hearing that his administration office could possibly go bankrupt if he actually has to go to jail.
The court will give its ruling in five weeks.
Tags: appeal months prison demanded Jan Nieboer role threatening letters wind turbine builders
