It is very likely that the creators of the disgusting banner towards Steven Berghuis will not get away unscathed, lawyer Richard Korver tells. The Telegraph. A photo surfaced on social media on Sunday of five unrecognizable men holding up a threatening banner. Berghuis, who exchanges Feyenoord for Ajax, is placed on a list with convicted criminal Martin van de Pol and crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, both supporters of Ajax who were murdered this year.
The objectionable banner about Berghuis, which would have been made by Feyenoord supporters, has ‘the attention’ of the police. “It’s extremely distasteful, in several ways,” Korver sheds light on the matter. “It is distasteful to compare Berghuis to a criminal, pollette. It is distasteful to equate Peter R. de Vries with a criminal and it is distasteful to do so so soon after the death of Peter R. de Vries. If you do this before someone has had their funeral, I have no other words for that. It’s distasteful and punishable.”
Korver therefore does not think that the creators will get away without punishment. “You can think you can do everything under the heading of satire, but this goes a number of bridges too far,” said the lawyer. “It is both insulting and threatening and both are criminal offenses. I would not like to classify this as ‘free art expression’. Apparently the people who have done this also think that it is not satire, otherwise you can just with your face in that photo? We see that there are people behind and next to the canvas, all of whose faces are blurred. If it is a free art expression, what is normal and what is nothing wrong with it, you don’t have to to do.”
Feyenoord publishes statement after threatening statements to Steven Berghuis
Feyenoord has distanced itself from the threatening and hurtful expressions against Steven Berghuis.
The case is reminiscent of a doll that dangled with a rope around its neck in the Johan Cruijff ArenA five years ago and was supposed to represent Kenneth Vermeer. “That was also seen as threatening and insulting,” Korver draws the comparison. “Sixty hours of community service has been imposed for this and a conviction for a crime. Threatening another person, certainly in the context of football matches where all the necessary violence is involved, is heavily arrested. You can think of community service, if the people who did it don’t have a criminal record. If they do, it could be jail time.”