00:00A Dutch court opened a trial Monday of an Eritrean man accused of involvement in a brutal migrant smuggling network.
00:09Prosecutors say Tewelle de Goetheum, also known as Emmanuel Waleed,
00:14ran an operation bringing East African migrants to Europe under horrific conditions,
00:19demanding huge sums of money from their relatives to free them from camps in Libya.
00:24It was already noted earlier in this plea that the public prosecution service wanted to provide an answer to global migration problems with this criminal prosecution.
00:37That streven mag op zichzelf misschien.
00:39The aim may be politically understandable, but it is not the task of criminal law, let alone of the Dutch public prosecution service, to solve global issues.
00:49Criminal law should be limited to situations with a clear legal basis and within the Netherlands' jurisdictions.
00:59The Coupes say that he is a victim of mistaken identity.
01:02He was extradited to the Netherlands in 2012 from Ethiopia, where he was convicted of similar crimes.
01:08The trial is one of the largest human smuggling cases ever brought in the Netherlands.
01:12It will continue for the next three weeks.
Comments