Netherlands: Eurotop - one in 371 arrests upheld
01 September 1998
Only one of the 371 arrests that were carried out at the Amsterdam Summit under the now notorious article 140 (which prohibits membership of a criminal conspiracy or organisation) has been upheld by the Dutch courts. A judge ruled that in one arrest a case could be made that the individual was part of a criminal conspiracy. The outcome has been welcomed by public prosecutors, who had been embarrassed by the fact that every one of the 371 people arrested had been released without charge. "Clearly we weren't that stupid", an obviously relieved spokesman stated. Who the lone arrestee was supposed to have conspired with was not made clear by the court.