Monday, February 4, 2008

The breaking of a Rechtsstaat

So, it has finally happened. The Netherlands, known for its tolerance and liberty on the outside is no longer a constitutional state, a rechtsstaat, as we for ages have proclaimed ourselves with pride and dignity.

According to wikipedia, in a Rechtsstaat, the power of the state is limited in order to protect citizens from the arbitrary excercise of autority. In a Rechtsstaat the citizens share both legally based civil liberties and can use the courts.

Effectively, this resulted in three powers for the Netherlands: the lawmakers (representation of the people known as Parliament - these are the first and second chamber. One is elected directly, the other through the provinces) make and approve, amend, or dissaprove laws, regulations and they check the government. The authorities are the prime minister and cabinet, executing the laws and decisions made with and by the parliament. And thirdly, there is the court of law, the judges. Anyone that is accused of breaking the law goes before a judge and gets a fair trial. Or that is how it used to be.

Under new regulations, it is provided that the OM, the prosecuting force under the direction of government, can sentence people to fines or penal labour for crimes that have a maximum of 6 years imprisonment. To avoid confusion: penal labour is not done in an enclosed facility. However, being sentenced to either gets you a criminal record, and now there is no judge to see to it that convictions are made based on true evidence and that prosecution was legal. After initial conviction, the convicted has 2 (two!) weeks to appeal and have the case brought to a judge.

It must be said that I find this shocking, though not surprising. Shocking, because I fear I had hoped that after forced saving of internet usage data, propositions to internet sensorship, all but unlimited right to phone taps, there would be something about our freedom that wouldn't be thorn down. Stupid me.

Under the light of truth and freedom, I must hereby declare that the Netherlands as such is no longer a free state or a rightful democracy. Either of these titles belong only to those countries who would not give up freedom to gain security, be it true or false. In this case, I fear the devil we know might have been the better one.. at least there was no real terrorist in the Netherlands yet. I think the threat of a dictator is far higher at the moment.

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