WILLEMSTAD, HAARLEM – The Public Prosecution Service in the Netherlands may not prosecute a woman a second time for human trafficking in a case linked to drug smuggling via Curaçao, because she has already been convicted for the same underlying facts. That ruling was handed down by the Rechtbank Noord-Holland.
The woman had already been irrevocably convicted in 2023 for co-perpetrating the export of cocaine. The case involved the use of a minor as a courier, her fourteen-year-old niece, to transport the drugs. In a new criminal case, the Openbaar Ministerie sought to prosecute her for human trafficking, arguing that she had exploited the minor in the same drug transport.
The court ruled that the prosecution is inadmissible. According to the judges, the case concerns the same set of facts and the same conduct for which the woman had already been convicted. A second prosecution for human trafficking therefore violates the ne bis in idem principle, which prohibits someone from being tried twice for the same offense.
While human trafficking and drug smuggling are legally distinct criminal offenses, the court found that the factual actions in this case were virtually identical. The use of the minor courier had already been taken into account in the earlier conviction and in determining the sentence.
As a result of the ruling, the new criminal case against the woman has been dismissed, and there will be no substantive hearing on the human trafficking charge.