Status: 07/15/2021 3:22 p.m.
More than a week after a gunshot attack in Amsterdam, the Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries died as a result of his injuries, as the media reported unanimously. He was 64 years old.
Dutch journalist Peter R. de Vries died of the severity of his injuries more than a week after a fatal gun attack. The broadcaster RTL quoted from a letter from the family in which the relatives announced the death of the 64-year-old.
“Peter fought to the last, but he lost the fight,” says the written statement. “Peter lived by his belief that ‘being on your knees is not the way to be free.’ We are incredibly proud of him and at the same time heartbroken. ”
Condolences online
Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, paid tribute to the reporter’s achievements on Twitter: “Peter R. de Vries was always committed, persistent, and was not afraid of anything or anyone.” De Vries was “always in search of the truth” and stood up for justice, Rutte continued. That makes it “all the more dramatic that he has now become the victim of a great injustice”.
Rutte assured: “We owe it to Peter R. de Vries to ensure that justice takes its course. We can and will never tolerate this in the Netherlands. We will do everything we can to fight crime by all means. This cowardly act must not go unpunished. ”
Shot down in the center of Amsterdam
De Vries was gunned down on July 6 after a guest appearance on a TV show shortly after leaving the television studio in central Amsterdam. He was admitted to a clinic with life-threatening injuries, including a head shot.
After the crime, three men were initially arrested by the police. One of them was later released. The other two suspects are a 21-year-old from Rotterdam and a 35-year-old man of Polish origin.
Award winning reporter
De Vries was considered the leading crime reporter in the Netherlands and also appeared regularly as a spokesman for victims or witnesses at trials. He was also a frequent guest on TV talk shows.
The reporter became internationally known in 1987 with his bestseller about the kidnapping of the brewer Freddy Heineken. In 2008 he won an Emmy Award for reporting on the case of Natalee Holloway. The American disappeared in Aruba in 2005 and was believed to have been killed by a Dutchman.