• Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    3 months ago

    He was imprisoned by the UK, not the Dutch. The Dutch got him out of prison. After a year. For raping a 12-year-old multiple times.

    • Guntrigger@sopuli.xyz
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      3 months ago

      He was first extradited by the Dutch and also imprisoned in the Netherlands (as is normal in international crimes). It’s not like they sprung him from a UK prison.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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        3 months ago

        And exactly how long was he in prison in the Netherlands? For repeatedly raping a 12-year-old girl?

        • johan@feddit.nl
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          3 months ago

          I totally agree with you and fuck this guy, but there is some context to his sentence here in the Netherlands:

          One legal distinction is that Van de Velde is unlikely to have been convicted of rape had he stood trial in the Netherlands rather than England. In England, sex with a 12-year-old is rape, regardless of the circumstances: an under-16 cannot legally consent. But after he was extradited to the Netherlands, having serving almost a year of his prison sentence, he was released after less than a month. Under Dutch law, his crime was deemed to be the lesser offence of ontucht, sexual acts that violate social-ethical norms.

          From https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/30/netherlands-child-rapist-olympics-steven-van-de-velde

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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            3 months ago

            Oh I know. It’s disgusting, but it’s the law and you can’t retroactively change it. But they could, at the very least, not let the fucker on their Olympics team.

            • johan@feddit.nl
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              3 months ago

              100% agree. I’m Dutch and he’s sent there to represent me/us/the country, it’s fucking disgusting.

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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                3 months ago

                It’s interesting, isn’t it, that none of the people in this thread defending him being on the team seem to be Dutch.

                  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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                    3 months ago

                    That Dutch people are apparently not as supportive of a child rapist from their country than other people from other countries are.