Guns case trial begins

Searchlight - August 2007 Short news

The first hearing in the case against Arris de Bruin, the Combat 18/Racial Volunteer Force member arrested in March for illegal possession of several guns, ammunition, bulletproof vests and homemade nail bombs, took place at the end of June.

From early proceedings it appears that the prosecutor has no idea that the case involves the activities of an extreme right-wing organisation. Also, although Maarten van Mil, the man who sold the guns to De Bruin, was arrested together with a soldier who delivered the bulletproof vests, the prosecutor has seemingly opted to ignore the need to investigate the political background or membership of the accused men.

At the hearing, his lawyer complained that De Bruin had lost his job and could no longer pay his mortgage. But the public prosecutor stated that as De Bruin was financial supported by Combat 18, there was no need to worry. The judge, meanwhile, has ruled that De Bruin must remain banged up because of the danger that he could buy weapons again. The nazi Dutch People's Union (NVU) is gathering money for De Bruin despite having stated officially that he was not member of the party. Money collected at a recent fascist demonstration in Oss has reportedly already been transferred to him.

Meanwhile, the internal affairs and justice minister has had to face questions by parliamentarians about Blood&Honour. The answers were most reassuring: the Dutch government is not monitoring the number of visitors to right-wing websites; there is no concrete evidence from these organizations that violence is being incited or prepared and there is insufficient evidence to launch moves to ban Blood&Honour in The Netherlands. As always, it is left to anti-fascists to expose the danger of right wing exremist organisations and campaign against them.

Jeroen Bosch for Alert! and Antifa-Net