Julia Hawkins, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
For weeks, police monitored chat conversations by Extinction Rebellion activists, shortly before the January 28 blockade of the A12. Trouw, De Groene Amsterdammer and the Investico research platform have viewed the criminal files of the activists: 8 of them are suspected of incitement to crime, writes RTL.
Tomorrow the court hearing.
An agent hacked into the Signal messaging service chat under the name “Inge” and pretended to be an activist and another informant passed on the names of the organizers of the protest, writes the indictment report.
The police have the ability to monitor private chats if they believe maintaining law and order is at stake, and the prosecutor can use this information. However, this heavy measure enjoys broad discretion and it is not always easy to establish whether or not the authority has exceeded the limits.
‘Until now, these investigative methods have mainly been used for groups suspected of terrorism’ https://t.co/s0OfDkNuXh
— Wil Eikelboom (@wileikelboom) March 21, 2023
A Trouw expert says this form of survey is being used mainly with terrorist suspects. “It is surprising that the police are now using it in a legal and peaceful movement. Incitement is a serious crime that justifies such interventions but the law was not meant for protesters,” lawyer Tamara Buruma told RTL.
Willem Jebbink claims he’s never seen such a thing before, concerning groups of peaceful demonstrators.
