Today, September 7, 2023, seven people received a letter from the Openbaar Ministerie (OM). These are people who indicated that they had not been present at the November 5, 2022 demonstration by climate activists at Schiphol Airport. The seven had previously received a warning letter from the Prosecution stating that they were present at the demonstration. Investigations revealed that this was wrongly determined by the Royal Military Police (KMar).
With this letter, the OM apologizes for this. Furthermore, this letter explains that the personal data of the seven in relation to the demonstration will be removed. The OM attaches great importance to the quality of the investigation and every citizen must be able to trust in this. The OM regrets that things did not go well here and will do everything possible to prevent this in the future. Therefore, the November 5, 2022 identification process will be reviewed by the KMar.
On November 5, 2022, KMar detained about four hundred protesters at Schiphol Airport who were participating in a climate action. Most of them did not want to identify themselves, or had taken measures to make their identification difficult. The KMar did the subsequent identification of these individuals using closed sources (police information) and open sources (social media).
The prosecution sent a warning letter to 175 individuals in July 2023 stating that they had participated in the climate demonstration at Schiphol Airport on November 5, 2022. Subsequently, eight persons indicated that they were not present there on that day. At the behest of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the KMar re-investigated these eight identifications. Based on the results, the OM has concluded that it can indeed not be established that seven of them were present at Schiphol on that day. This misstep will be rectified and their personal data in the context of the demonstration on November 5, 2022 will be removed by the OM and the KMar. The investigation into the eighth person is ongoing.
Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor of the North Holland Prosecutor's Office Corien Fahner: ''That things did not go well here is disturbing and we apologize for that. From the Public Prosecutor's Office we have of course entered into discussions with the Marechaussee about how this could have happened.'' At the OM's behest, the KMar is investigating how it established the identities of the other identified climate demonstrators. That verification is expected to be completed in early October. If it turns out that more people were falsely identified as being present at the demonstration, they too will be notified. This will also be made public.
In addition, the prosecution wanted to prosecute a 35-year-old man from Beilen for unlawful intrusion into secure airfields because he had chained himself to an aircraft. The case against him was dismissed. Investigation revealed that although the man was present at the climate demonstration on the secure area of the airport, he was not the person who had chained himself to an aircraft. This person left the area when the KMar called for it.
Below this press release is the letter sent by the prosecution to the seven people in question.
Dear Sir/Madam,
On July 12, 2023, the OM sent you a warning letter in connection with the demonstration at Schiphol Airport on November 5, 2022. On [date] you informed the OM that you did not attend the demonstration. The Prosecution received a signal from several people that they were not present at that demonstration, and were wrongly associated with it. This was the reason for the OM to have the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (KMar) conduct a further investigation into the manner in which their identification took place. You had an interview with the KMar about this on [date]. Based on these investigation results, I conclude that you were not present at the demonstration and that you wrongfully received a warning letter from the OM.
I deeply regret that. I sincerely apologize to you for that.
I can well imagine that the July 12 letter raises questions for you. Questions such as "how did you come to me as an individual?" and "what happens to my personal data? I will explain further.
During the demonstration at Schiphol Airport, a group of more than 400 demonstrators gained access to the secure area of the airport by, among other things, destroying fences and climbing over them. In addition to punishable offenses, this also posed a danger to flight safety and everyone involved, including the demonstrators themselves. That situation therefore had to be ended as soon as possible. Given the size of the group, the demonstrators were first given the opportunity to leave voluntarily and some did so. The remaining group of demonstrators remained on the airport grounds, some of whom chained themselves to aircraft.
It was decided to arrest this group of persons. When an arrest is made, the identity of the person arrested is always verified. In some persons this was successful, in some of the group it was not possible to establish the identity. These individuals had taken various measures to avoid being identified, such as working their fingertips with glue and not carrying proof of identity. Since identification was not possible at that time, it was decided to take a photograph of these individuals and send them away.
Based on the photos taken, further research was then conducted by the KMar to still determine the identity of the persons who could not be identified. To this end, both closed sources (such as police information) and open sources (such as social media) were used. In this way, some of the persons were identified. In the case of a number of persons, the Public Prosecution Service subsequently concluded that the identification was incorrect and that mistakes had therefore been made. This is also the case with you. In your case [personal explanation].
This mistake will be corrected, by deleting the registration of your personal data in the context of the demonstration on November 5, 2022. The KMar will take the same measures. With this, you will no longer be associated with the demonstration on November 5, 2022.
I hope with the foregoing I have informed you sufficiently. Of course, I can well imagine that you still have questions. For this you can contact us.
Sincerely,
Mr. C. Fahner
Deputy chief public prosecutor
