Thousands of people bid last farewell to murdered journalist in Amsterdam

Thousands of people today said their final farewells to Peter R. de Vries, the organized crime investigating journalist who shot in the head in Amsterdam.

The queue to access the Royal Theater Carré, where the chapel on fire was located, lengthened by hundreds of meters in the morning of Wednesday, with a waiting time to enter of three hours.

The first people arrived at 7:00 a.m. despite the theater only opening at 10:45 a.m. It is scheduled to close at 8:00 p.m., although it has already been announced that it will continue to receive people beyond that time.

Inside, a large portrait of the journalist and hundreds of white and red roses were placed next to and on top of his coffin, along with a jersey from Ajax, the club he was a fan of.

“We talked and cried all week, our emotions are still running high. Peter was a sincere and kind person, he helped people”Maureen, a woman from Almelo, told “De Telegraaf” newspaper. The funeral will take place this Thursday at the Théâtre Royal Carré in front of some 800 guests.

De Vries was filmed on July 6 near the studio of RTL Boulevard, the television show he had appeared on that afternoon and with which he regularly collaborated. After several days in the hospital, he passed away on July 15.

The two main suspects were arrested an hour after the shooting: a 21-year-old from Rotterdam, who allegedly shot, and a 35-year-old man of Polish nationality, who allegedly drove the car with which the alleged murderer fled.

Both are still awaiting trial, while a third arrested in Amsterdam was released shortly after his arrest.

A senior official in the Attorney General’s office, Gerrit van der Burg, recently told public broadcaster NOS that De Vries’ murder was likely linked to his “involvement in a criminal case”.

The reporter was, according to the local press, a confidant of the main witness in the trial of the criminal network of drug trafficker Ridouan Taghi, the most wanted man in the Netherlands until his arrest in December 2019 in Dubai.

THE INCIDENT

Dutch journalist Peter R. de Vries, who specializes in investigating organized crime in the Netherlands, has died in a shooting in central Amsterdam, according to the journalist’s family.

“Peter fought to the end, but could not win the battle. We are immensely proud of him and at the same time with an inconsolable feeling“, Wrote the relatives in a statement.

The reporter died at the age of 64, in the presence of his family in an Amsterdam hospital, where he spent over a week fighting for his life, with very serious injuries.

The journalist was the victim of a shooting on July 6 in the afternoon in the center of Amsterdam, while leaving the television studios of a program in which he frequently participated as an expert on the organized crime. The striker fired five times and one of the shots hit De Vries in the head.

(with information from the EFE)

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