A Dutch prosecutor is recommending just 18 days in detention and 80 hours of community service for a teenager who attacked Thierry Baudet, leader of the right-wing, anti-mass migration Forum for Democracy (FvD) party, with a glass bottle.
The proposed punishment includes 138 days of juvenile detention, with 120 suspended, despite evidence of premeditated assault revealed through text messages and the boy’s own admission. Charges against a second suspect were dropped due to insufficient evidence, according to Dutch outlet NOS.
The attack took place two days before the national elections last year, during Baudet’s appearance at a bar in Groningen. The 15-year-old, pretending to pose for a selfie, struck Baudet over the head with a bottle. Antifa group AFA Noord, present to protest Baudet’s event, initially claimed responsibility before retracting their statement.
Calling it a “political attack,” Baudet argued that his party’s supporters also feel silenced. Notably, Baudet had been attacked just a month earlier in Ghent by a Ukrainian man wielding an umbrella, which left him concussed. That assailant was merely given a warning, raising questions about the security provided to controversial political figures.
Political violence against right-leaning politicians in the Netherlands is not new. In 2002, populist anti-immigration leader Pim Fortuyn was assassinated while campaigning. His killer served just 12 years of an 18-year sentence. Similarly, Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom, has required police protection for two decades due to Islamist threats.
The Groningen court will deliver its verdict in two weeks. If the prosecutor’s lenient recommendation is accepted, the attacker will walk free, having already served his brief pretrial detention.
