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Lawsuit against transferring files to the FBI

ARUBA – District Attorney Amelin Flanegin left for Virginia (USA) last Sunday afternoon to bring the videotapes and other information in the Holloway-case to the FBI. The defense of the suspects does not agree with this and instituted a lawsuit against it.

Also a member of the RTS and a member of the OM went to the US. The FBI will pore over the material in the presence of the Aruban delegation. The FBI hopes that their experts can shed a different light on the case. Flanegin will return to Aruba this coming Sunday. Last Friday, Prime Minister Nelson Oduber and Justice-minister Rudy Croes had ordered the attorney general to open all the files to the FBI. The order was done in writing to the head of the Aruban Public Prosecution (OM). According to spokesperson of the OM, Mariaine Croes, this visit to the FBI was already primed, before the OM received the letter. The OM wants to use al available expertise, from the Netherlands as well as from the FBI.

The defense was not informed about the fact that the FBI would get access to all the information. It will be very careless if this is the case. Pursuant to the Code of Criminal Procedure, only the persons mentioned in the law have power of criminal investigation. When, according to the law, unauthorized people start doing investigations in this case, the guarantee that the suspect derives from the Aruban law, lapses. Neither the judge nor the defense can check whether everything goes according to the rules or not. The defense does not know what part the FBI is now going to have in this case. The defense has turned in an appeal to the examining-magistrate Rick Smid in Curacao for a criminal procedure. No date has been set yet for the lawsuit.

It is a sad issue in the judicial world that the highest local authorities take actions without legal basis, just because they are under pressure of the American media. The defense expects that the OM would wait for a judicial decision, before complying with the instructions of the Aruban government. If the OM doesn’t, their client would reserve the right to request persecution of the not-susceptibility of the OM.

According to Spokesperson Croes, it is up to the examining-magistrate to decide on this and the OM will have to go along with his decision.

In Other News:

Suspects of double homicide arrested

BONAIRE – Two suspects in last week’s double homicide on the brothers Martis were arrested this morning. The first suspect, the 20-year old E.W. was taken by surprise out of his bed this morning. The second one, the 22-year old L.C. was caught in the course of the morning, when he was out at sea on a fishing boat near Klein Bonaire.

The murder of Lisandro (23) and Wendell (18) has shocked Bonaire. Already in an early stage of the investigation, the police knew the identity of the two persons, but needed to collect enough evidence, before they could arrest them. The police are still investigating the motive of the homicide. The initial plan was to arrest them in the night of Saturday to Sunday, but it had to be postponed in order to verify the latest details. This morning around 04:30, the police and the VKB, both well equipped with bullet proof vests and heavy armory, including machine guns, turned out to arrest the suspects.

E.W. was dragged out of his bed in Den Tera. The other one, L.C., fled on board of a fishing boat, but the police arrested him near Klein Curacao. The owner of the boat was also arrested. The police will investigate to what extend his involvement is in this case. Assisting a suspect in getting away is against the law and punishable. Both suspects are from Bonaire. They will undergo intensive interrogations in order to discover the facts of the murder.