Today, the District Court of Zwolle imposed the maximum prison sentence on the Eritrean ‘Walid’, who was on trial for heading a criminal organization. According to the court, Walid was proven guilty of "a very serious, large-scale, and violent form of human smuggling", punishable under Article 197a of the Dutch Criminal Code. The charges included the inhumane conditions under which migrants were held in warehouses run by Walid in Libya (Bani Walid). There, they were forced to pay thousands of dollars to the criminal organization (sometimes multiple times) under pressure and/or threat of severe violence. After they had made their payment, they were taken to the Libyan coast and sent out in rickety boats to make the perilous crossing to Europe across the Mediterranean Sea.
Four survivors are being represented in this criminal case by attorneys Brechtje Vossenberg and Barbara van Straaten. During the substantive hearings last November, the clients exercised their right to speak. They told the court about their experiences, the impact that Walid's smuggling practices had on them, and what it means to them that he was being held to account in this trial. The lawyers also spoke on behalf of their clients in that context, emphasizing amongst other things the broader impact of the criminal case on the Eritrean diaspora and more specifically the group smuggled into Europe through Walid's organization. This is a large group of people in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the world for whom this criminal case is of enormous significance. The court took this into account, and for that reason the substantive hearings and today's judgment could be followed via a livestream (in Dutch, English and Tigrinya).
Walid’s defense team had challenged the jurisdiction of the court, because the crimes had occurred largely outside the Netherlands. The court ruled today however, that it has jurisdiction over the majority of the charges. It assumed jurisdiction for the human smuggling offenses insofar as the migrants listed in the charges had traveled onwards to the Netherlands to apply for asylum, within a reasonable time upon arriving in Italy. The court held that the constitutive consequence of the human smuggling had taken place in the Netherlands, that the crime had therefore been completed in the Netherlands and that as such it was able to consider the charges in question. In this criminal case, our firm represents four survivors who reached Europe through Walid's criminal organization. For two of them, the court ruled that the constitutive consequence of human smuggling by (the organization of) Walid indeed took place in Netherlands. Unfortunately, the court did not accept jurisdiction for the other two clients.
In the course of the criminal investigation, our clients provided extensive testimony. On the one hand, they did so with a view to establishing the truth, and on the other, in the hope that it would yield some measure of justice and recognition for what was done to them and by whom. Our clients are therefore pleased with Walid's conviction. The court has established what happened along the smuggling route and in Walid's camps in Libya, and that Walid played a leading role in this process.
In the words of the court (free translation):
'The court finds that this case is exceptionally serious due to both the scope and the nature of the offenses, on the one hand because of the undermining of Dutch and European immigration policy, but on the other hand, and above all, because of the particularly cruel, violent and inhuman treatment to which the defendant and his accomplices subjected the migrants. The defendant and his accomplices acted without conscience, without compassion, and without regard for human dignity. It appears that their sole purpose was simply to extort as much money as possible from vulnerable and helpless people who had left in search of a better future.'
Injured party claims were also filed on behalf of clients. Because the facts largely took place in Libya, Libyan civil law applied substantively to the claims. The court was informed of the legal framework on behalf of the clients, and also appointed experts to provide it with further information on Libyan law. By doing so, the court was sufficiently informed to rule on the merits of the claims.
See also
- Press release District Court of Zwolle: ‘Twenty years’ imprisonment for large-scale and violent human smuggling of Eritrean migrants'
- Final judgement Rechtbank Overijssel 27 januari 2026, ECLI:NL:RBOVE:2026:330 (an English translation will be posted here when it becomes available)
- Corder, ‘Dutch court sentences Eritrean man to 20 years for cruel people smuggling’, Washington Post, 27 January 2026
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