Dutch veteran crime journalist Peter R. de Vries died on Thursday, just over a week after he was shot point-blank on the streets of Amsterdam.
De Vries, 64, passed away Thursday after fighting for his life for just over a week after he had been shot on the streets of Amsterdam at around 7:30 pm on Tuesday, July 6th near a parking garage.
Following the shooting, two suspects were taken into custody, a 35-year-old Polish national and a 21-year-old man from Rotterdam, who is believed to have been the man who shot the veteran journalist, while the Pole drove the getaway car, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports.
While police have taken the two men into custody, the exact motive for the shooting remains unclear though some have speculated it could be linked to organised criminal activity, as De Vries had been subjected to serious death threats in the past due to his work exposing organised crime.
One name that has been at the forefront of speculation is Moroccan-Dutch alleged crime boss Ridouan Taghi.
In May of 2019, De Vries had announced publicly that he was on a hitlist of Taghi as he had previously assisted Nabil B., a key witness in the Marengo trial against the alleged crime boss.
Taghi is the prime suspect in the Marengo trial, an ongoing process that has 17 Moroccan mafia suspects on trial for various murders and attempted murders.
The Taghi link is also speculated as Dutch lawyer Derk Wiersum was also fatally shot two years ago as Wiersum was representing Nabil B. at the time.
Jan Struijs, head of the NPB police union, said at the time that the shooting was proof the Netherlands was a “narco-state.”
Many in the Netherlands have expressed shock over the shooting of De Vries, including Dutch rime Minister Mark Rutte who called the shooting an attack on the country’s democracy.
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