He described their evidence as a conspiracy, and falsely accused Astrid of having psychological problems. He had sought to undermine the incriminating witness statements of his former girlfriend Sandra den Hartog and his sisters, Astrid and Sonja, the latter of whom had been married to Van Hout.
GANGLAND MOVIE 1987 TRIAL
Holleeder, described in court earlier in the trial as “the best-known Dutch product after cheese” in criminal circles, was arrested in 2014 over the murder of two men before the charges multiplied.
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Holleeder was caught hiding out in Paris and sentenced in 1987 to 11 years in prison, of which he served five. The two hostages were released after a ransom of 35m Dutch guilders (about £12.5m today) was paid, of which a quarter was never recovered. The story of his criminal enterprise was made into a movie, Kidnapping Freddy Heineken, starring Anthony Hopkins. Holleeder, 61, who has been described in the recent past as a knuffelcrimineel, or huggable criminal, because of his efforts to court the media, became a household name in 1983 for his role in the abduction of Freddy Heineken and his driver.
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“It was him or me,” he added of another of the killings.
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“Finally it succeeded,” Holleeder was heard saying of the murder of Van Hout. The judge, Frank Wieland, said the sound recordings in which Holleeder had discussed ordering the murders gave the trial “a special dynamic”. There was no forensic evidence of Holleeder’s role orchestrating five murders between 20, including that of his brother-in-law and accomplice in the Heineken kidnapping, Cor van Hout, but taped admissions and testimony from a series of witnesses proved to be enough.