Three of the men on trial for the murder of television crime reporter Peter R de Vries should be jailed for life, the public prosecution department told judges at the high security Osdorp court on Wednesday.

The shooter, the driver of the getaway car and the man who organised the killing should all be given the longest possible sentence, the department said. The other six on trial face jail terms of between three and 21 years.

“By murdering Peter R de Vries, the suspects have caused irreparable suffering and shocked society,” the prosecutor said on the second of two days allocated to the prosecution case.

Krystian M, who is said to have orchestrated the killing told the court and De Vries’ relatives, that he was sorry for what had happened. The Polish national said he had been put under pressure to order the murder, but declined to go into details.

The other defendants have so far declined to speak in court.

Nine men have been charged in connection with the murder of De Vries, who was shot in July 2021 after leaving a television studio in the centre of the Dutch capital. He died in hospital nine days later.

The public prosecution department has been unable to establish who ordered the killing but suspects drugs lord Ridouan Taghi may have been behind it, despite a lack of evidence. De Vries was the confidant of Nabil B, the crown witness against Taghi in a separate multiple murder trial which is still ongoing.

Currently in the Netherlands, life sentences mean just that, but cases will be assessed after 25 years for possible release. There are currently around 30 prisoners serving life sentences in Dutch prisons, including several gangland murderers and Mohammed Bouyeri, who murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh in 2004.

The court is due to give its verdict in June.