Community service and suspended prison sentence for founder extreme-right student party

The founder of the far-right Vrijmoedige Studentenpartij (‘Candid student party’), Marlon U., has been sentenced to 240 hours of community service and two months’ suspended prison sentence for the assault and discrimination of a fellow student. VSP member Reinout V. has also been given community service.

During a drinks event on the VU Amsterdam campus in November a quarrel broke out after Marlon U., together with another VSP member, sang a Nazi song. A fellow student challenged them about it, after which the student was forced to the ground and stamped in the face.

According to the court U. shouted that the victim, who is of Egyptian origin, would be ‘deported’. He also called a bystander the n-word.

The court speaks of an ‘attempted grievous assault’ and states that there was ‘discriminatory intent’. U. was convicted and sentenced to 240 hours of community service and two months’ suspended prison sentence. Party member Reinout V. is to do 180 hours of community service.

Bloody nose

The defence said it was ‘only a nosebleed’. It also argued there was no discrimination, because the remarks were made ‘in a highly emotional state’. But the court does not accept that: the emotions do nothing to diminish the discriminatory nature, which ‘leads to feelings of fear and insecurity,’ also in the student world.

And that it was ‘only’ a nosebleed, the court says, was largely a matter of luck. U. had pressed the victim’s head to the ground and stamped on it. It could easily have ended much more seriously.

Taxi driver

Still, the limited harm to the victim was taken into account. The court also states that ‘the defendant has already suffered major consequences as a result of his actions,’. Due to the extensive media attention U. is said to have lost his job as a taxi driver and to be finding it difficult to get new work. V. may have suffered a delay in his studies.

The Vrijmoedige Studentenpartij is a controversial group. Chairman Marlon U. had long shown aggressive behaviour on the VU campus. In February students and staff demanded that the board take more measures to ensure safety on campus.