THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) 鈥� A Dutch court convicted an Eritrean man on Tuesday of and sentenced him to the maximum 20 years imprisonment, saying that he and his accomplices subjected migrants to 鈥渃ruel, violent, and degrading treatment.鈥�
Tewelde Goitom, also known as Amanuel Walid, was found guilty by the Overijssel District Court of leading a criminal organization that mistreated migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe and extorted money from their families in the Netherlands to pay for the risky voyages.
The court rejected his defense that he was not the person identified by witnesses as a leader of a notorious smuggling network that shipped people from Libya to Europe and often onward to the Netherlands, where they applied for asylum.
Presiding Judge Ren茅 Melaard called the case 鈥渆xceptionally serious鈥� because of both the nature and scope of the crimes.
鈥淥n the one hand, because of the gross undermining of Dutch and European immigration policy, but on the other, and especially, because of the particularly cruel, violent and degrading treatment to which you and your accomplices subjected the migrants,鈥� Melaard said.
鈥淵ou, along with your accomplices, were merciless, unscrupulous, and devoid of regard for human dignity in your treatment鈥� of the migrants 鈥渁pparently solely to extort as much money as possible from vulnerable and helpless people seeking a better future,鈥� Melaard added.
Goitom, 42, was also ordered to pay more than 30,000 euros ($35,000) in damages to victims. He has two weeks to appeal his conviction.
Migrants seeking to get to Europe were held by Goitom’s network in camps in Libya, where they were 鈥渕istreated while being forced to call family members, who were pressured to transfer money for their relatives鈥� passage,鈥� the court said in a statement. 鈥淥nly when their passage to Europe had been paid for was a migrant eligible to leave the camp and continue their journey.鈥�
In a message on X, the prosecutor鈥檚 office at the International Criminal Court welcomed the verdicts, saying that it had shared evidence in the case as part of a joint team investigating crimes against migrants in Libya. The ICC has an ongoing investigation in Libya.
At the opening of the trial in November, Goitom told judges that he was a victim of mistaken identity. He from Ethiopia, where he was convicted of similar crimes.
Goitom’s case was delayed by the lengthy extradition process of another man, Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam, who escaped during trial in Ethiopia in 2020. Described as one of 鈥欌�檛he world鈥檚 most wanted鈥� human traffickers, Habtemariam was in late December and is expected to stand trial in a Dutch court at a later date.
Habtemariam was convicted in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment after escaping from custody in Ethiopia while on trial on people smuggling charges.
Both men are facing justice in the Netherlands because Dutch prosecutors say some of their alleged crimes happened in the Netherlands. They say that Dutch-based relatives of migrants seeking to make the perilous journey from East Africa through and across the Mediterranean to Europe were extorted by people smugglers.
Goitom’s defense lawyers disagree. 鈥淭here is no clear connection to the Netherlands,鈥� Simcha Plas argued, saying that the payments were made in Eritrea or via the UAE, and that the Netherlands lacks jurisdiction.
The court rejected that argument as they convicted Goitom of multiple charges of complicity in people smuggling and extortion. He was acquitted in the cases of two migrants because judges said there was insufficient evidence.
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