The Dutch public prosecution department is calling for the introduction of a new criminal offence – preparing a murder – which it says is the only way to tackle the continuing wave of gangland killings, the NRC said on Monday.

The department also wants the maximum sentence for membership of a criminal organisation to be increased, the department said.

The call for change comes from two experienced prosecutors – Henk Mous and Koos Plooij – and follows a recent gangland trial in which the defendants were found not guilty of preparing a string of murders.

They were, however, convicted of membership of a criminal organisation which carried out killings on demand and jailed for up to eight years.

Evidence

Mous and Plooij say the verdict shows that the level of evidence required to prove preparation to murder is extremely high and that the sentences for membership of a criminal organisation are too low.

The prosecution department had called for jail terms of between 14 and 17 years. The judges ruled that there can only be talk of preparing a murder if a specific victim is in view.

‘It is a criminal offence to prepare to trade drugs even if the drugs are not actually present,’ Mous said. ‘We want the same to apply to preparing to carry out serious crimes such as murder.’