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Dutch Court Jails 2 Men for 5 Years for Attack on Reporter

by Associated Press

   THE HAGUE --

   A Dutch court sentenced two men to five years in prison Monday after
   convicting them of attempted murder and arson for throwing a Molotov
   cocktail into a journalist's home in a late-night attack last year.

   The court said the two men, identified by Dutch media as Tjeerd P. and
   Jaimy W. in line with privacy guidelines, launched the attack because
   one objected to what he considered the negative tone of the reporter's
   coverage of demonstrations against the Dutch government's coronavirus
   lockdown measures.

   The court in the northern city of Groningen said the attackers threw a
   beer bottle filled with kerosene through a window in the front door of
   the reporter's home in the early hours of Aug. 19, last year, causing a
   small fire.

   Nobody was injured in the attack, but the reporter, Willem Groeneveld,
   said in a victim impact statement during the trial that since the
   attack "he has always been on his guard and feels partly deprived of
   his journalistic freedom," the court said.

   It added that: "Journalistic freedom is an important pillar of the
   democratic constitutional state. Journalists have an important role in
   shaping social discussions and must be able to express themselves
   freely, without having to fear for their safety."