The victim, whose name is known to Ad Valvas, prefers to stay anonymous. He said he was happy with the court’s verdict. The judges sentenced the founder of right-wing party VSP Marlon U. to 240 hours of community service and a two-month suspended prison sentence. His party member Reinout V. received 180 hours of community service.
“The most important result from the verdict is that the judges completely ruled in favour of the prosecutor’s representation of the case, her version of events and her charges”, the victim said. “With the repeated denials by the accused of the basic facts of the case, that has meant a lot to me.”
For the victim, the past six months have been hard. “It’s been very stressful, partly because of ongoing online threats. I’m not Dutch, so I had to learn how the legal system works and what actions I could take. Also, the VU hasn’t been helpful at all.”
Online threats
From November to February, the victim received threatening messages on Instagram from anonymous accounts. One such account, called afcamfc, wrote: ‘Did you like the taste of concrete? Would you try it again?’ referring to the incident in Bar Boele, where Marlon U. beat the victim’s head multiple times against the concrete floor. “Unfortunately, the prosecutor couldn’t put this intimidation in the case, because the police couldn’t find the people involved”, the victim said.
The victim calls it ironic that the threats he received were not considered in the legal proceedings, while the threats U. received – in combination with the media coverage – led to a reduced sentence. “That was frustrating. Thankfully, because so many people were affected by Marlon and the VSP, there’s been a community supporting me. That has been very helpful. When I received these threats online, I was worried about physical retaliation. But when other people told me they also received threatening messages online after incidents with the VSP, that became less of a worry. I felt safer.”
Right before the first hearing in early June, a right-wing online outlet published the victim’s name. “It led to a week of me panicking: should I email my lawyer? Should I reach out to the medium? Luckily, it doesn’t show up when you search on my name, so that calmed me a bit.”
Loss of trust
The only communication the victim had with VU took place the week after the incident. “I had a meeting with people high up in security and Corporate Real Estate and Facilities (FCO) to get my accounting of the events. After just one or two follow-up emails asking for more details, there was radio silence.”
‘I have negative hope in the VU doing anything worthwhile’
Only after media attention from Ad Valvas and newspaper Het Parool and the subsequent demonstration on campus did VU contact the victim again, asking if he needed any help. “What’s more concerning is that the people I spoke to never directed me to the correct social safety procedures. I only learned afterwards that if the VU would have taken it up officially, I should have had a meeting with the confidential counsellor and there would be an official report and so on. Even though the executive board and higher management knew what happened, nobody told me the process I should have been going through.”
The lack of action has led to the victim losing all trust in VU. “At this point, the VU has been so incompetent in responding to these issues that I don’t know if they would have done anything if I had followed the right procedure. I have negative hope in the VU doing anything worthwhile”, he said.
‘Big mistake’
In addition, VU never informed the victim about the measures the university took against U. and V. “I only found out through people of the university council that they were banned from the campus early December”, said the victim. Two months later, when the victim was working at Studentendok – where student associations have their workspaces – U. suddenly entered the space. “That took me by surprise and made me feel uncomfortable. But again, the support of the community around me was critical to not feeling unsafe in the moment.”
‘The only thing unique about my case was that I went straight to the police instead of the VU’
According to the victim, everyone was surprised that U. was there, including people from the student council. “Apparently, Marlon and Reinout weren’t banned but suspended. And VU didn’t tell anybody that the suspension had expired. They could have warned me so that I could be prepared. That was a big mistake from their end.”
First hearing
The recent hearings in court were also stressful, the victim said. “Especially the first hearing, because there were a lot of people there: people from my side, from the perpetrators’ side, lawyers, the media and so on. But I had people supporting me, which helped a lot. As I said before, many people have had troubles with Marlon in the past. The only thing unique about my case was that I went straight to the police instead of the VU.”
Another stressor during the hearing was the behaviour of U.’s lawyer, Theo Hiddema. “He kept pointing at me during the hearing, saying I was lying. Eventually, the judge told him to stop. But that wasn’t pleasant at all.”
For the victim, the whole incident and aftermath now feel like a closed book. “Although it will feel really finalised when the deadline has passed to appeal against the court’s decision.”
Response VU
We regret that the student felt he did not receive sufficient support from the VU, and we find it very worrying to hear that he has been receiving threats.
The campus should be a safe place for everyone, where we treat one another with respect and look out for one another. The VU offers students support in various ways, including guidance from study advisers, student psychological counsellors and confidential counsellors. In addition, we continue to evaluate our services and engage in dialogue with those involved to determine what is necessary and feasible.
Ensuring everyone’s social safety is a top priority for us and something in which we, as a community, must continue to invest. A number of additional measures have already been taken recently. For example, we have organised listening sessions for students to gather feedback on experiences and areas for improvement regarding social safety. As part of this, we are examining how processes relating to social safety at the VU can be further strengthened, including by assessing whether existing house rules and regulations are still adequate. Extra attention has also been paid to the importance of reporting, the available reporting channels – such as confidential counsellors – and how we can provide greater clarity on the follow-up process when someone submits a report, alert or complaint.
For privacy reasons, we cannot comment on individual situations or measures. Following the violent incident on campus, disciplinary measures have been taken and talks have been held with those involved. Naturally, we have also been following the court case. We are assessing whether any further measures are required in this instance to continue to ensure everyone’s safety. Let it be clear that we find it utterly unacceptable that this took place on our campus and has had a significant impact on the community.