Appeal dropped against Volendam cafe boss

13 December 2004

AMSTERDAM — The public prosecutor’s office has abandoned its appeal against the suspended jail term handed down to Jan Veerman, the owner of the Volendam café in which 14 youths died in a fire on New Year’s Eve four years ago.

Haarlem Court imposed a 12-month suspended jail term on Veerman in July 2003. The café boss was ordered to undergo a 240-hour work order and was disqualified from operating a restaurant, café or bar for two years.

The prosecutor appealed the ruling in August 2003 in a bid to make its demand for a jail term stick. Veerman was accused of culpable homicide and negligence leading to the fire shortly after midnight on 1 January 2001.

The prosecutor has since decided to abandon the appeal because Veerman and the Edam-Volendam Council have reached a compensation agreement with more than 330 victims of the fire.

The agreement states that the council will buy from Veerman the building in which the fire broke out. The EUR 1.8 million in proceeds — plus EUR 2.3 million in instalments to be paid by the council over the next 40 years — will be donated to the victims.

In exchange, all pending legal procedures against the council and Veerman had to be abandoned.

The prosecutor said the victims have demonstrated they want the case closed, rather than be confronted by the tragedy again in a courtroom appeal. It said further that it was unlikely Veerman would receive a tougher sentence.

Subject: Dutch news