Dutch crime journalist, Peter Rudolf de Vries, has died from his injuries after being shot in an attack in Amsterdam nine days ago.
Dutch media shared a statement from his family confirming the 64-year-old’s death, saying “Peter fought to the end, but was unable to win the battle.”
De Vries was shot in the head in broad daylight after leaving a TV studio in Amsterdam on July 6, where the popular crime journalist had just appeared on a chat show. Two men were arrested, a 21-year-old Dutchman and a 35-year-old Polish national, having fled the scene in a getaway vehicle hours after the shooting. They have since appeared in court in Amsterdam.
The reporter’s shooting sparked anger and concern across the country, which filtered across the European continent. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands condemned the shooting as an attack on journalism, declaring that “journalists must be able to do their important work freely and without being threatened.”
European Parliament President David Sassoli also expressed his sympathies a day after the attack, calling “media the backbone of democracy,” and saying that “attacks against journalists are attacks against all of us.”
Appalled by the news of the attack on Dutch journalist Peter R. de Vries. My thoughts and those of the @Europarl_EN are with him and his loved ones.The media is the backbone of democracy. Attacks against journalists are attacks against all of us. #peterdevries
— David Sassoli (@EP_President) July 7, 2021
De Vries had been heralded as “fearless” for his investigative work into criminal gangs, and had been placed under special protective measures in 2019 after he chose to represent a witness in a trial against one of the Netherlands’ most prolific criminals, Ridouan Taghi. A lawyer working on the case died a similar death to de Vries, having been shot and killed in Amsterdam.
Over the course of his journalistic career, de Vries investigated over 500 murder cases. One that gained him considerable attention was the 1983 kidnapping of Freddy Heineken, where de Vries placed himself in the midst of the action, later writing two books about the events.
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