Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof will testify as a witness within the prison trial of a former counterterrorism official accused of leaking state secrets and techniques to Morocco, a Dutch courtroom mentioned Friday.
The case facilities on 65-year-old Ab el M., a former worker on the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV), the Dutch counterterrorism company, who was arrested in October 2023 at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport whereas making an attempt to journey to Morocco carrying a number of knowledge storage units, in keeping with the NL Times.
Schoof, who beforehand led the NCTV, will seem earlier than the analyzing Justice of the Peace alongside the company’s present chief, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg.
The Rotterdam District Court mentioned their testimony will deal with the suspect’s position inside the company and his entry to categorized data.
The hearings will probably be held behind closed doorways and won’t be open to the general public or media.
Prosecutors allege El M. meant to ship delicate authorities data to Moroccan intelligence companies.
He had been held in pre-trial detention for almost 20 months earlier than being conditionally launched earlier this week. The courtroom mentioned the discharge resolution was based mostly on balancing the size of the investigation along with his private circumstances.
“The personal interest of the suspect in his release has now come to outweigh the interest in criminal proceedings,” the courtroom mentioned, whereas emphasizing the seriousness of the costs.
El M. has denied the allegations.
“I have not handed over state secret information in any way, to anyone,” he mentioned throughout a earlier listening to.
His lawyer mentioned his silence on the case was on account of a confidentiality oath he took throughout his duties for the company.
Source: www.anews.com.tr