According to lawyer, intruder House of Representatives wanted to be shot

Image from Video: Second Chamber full of Marechaussee after man with weapon entered

The armed man who entered the Dutch Parliament (Tweede Kamer) in February wanted to be shot dead by the military police (marechaussee), according to his lawyer. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) finds that motive doubtful.

The 19-year-old man from Nijmegen appeared for the first time before the judge during a preliminary hearing on Wednesday. He was arrested after jumping over the access gates in the building of the Tweede Kamer on February 13.

He allegedly threatened an employee of the Chamber with a knife. “Let me in or I’ll stab you,” he is said to have shouted at her.

Shortly after he jumped over the gates, the military police overpowered him. The man is being held on suspicion of preparing a terrorist murder.

The man from Nijmegen was allegedly “severely depressed and suicidal” during the intrusion, his lawyer said Wednesday in the court in The Hague. “He wanted to commit suicide, but would not harm anyone in the Tweede Kamer,” the lawyer said. The suspect assumed that he would be shot dead after the intrusion.

OM doubts motive

The public prosecutor has doubts about that motive and suspects that the man from Nijmegen wanted to commit a terrorist murder. “It was a very threatening situation,” the officer said in court. But according to the lawyer, that was not the case. “If he were to encounter a politician, nothing would happen.” The psychological investigation into the suspect is still ongoing.

The lawyer requested the judge to release the suspect. He said that he would like to go home: “I miss home.” The suspect is happy with the care he receives in prison. He is taking medication and it is working.

But the judge is keeping him in jail because of the suspicions of terrorist murder. “You showed a knife in an aggressive manner in the Tweede Kamer, which is the heart of democracy,” the judge said. “That raises suspicions of a terrorist motive. We are not saying that it is, but we must seriously consider it.”

The next preliminary hearing is on July 30. The substantive hearing is on October 15.

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