A 16-year-old boy who assaulted a politician will be prosecuted by the public prosecution service on charges of attempted serious assault, local media said on Monday.

The boy, who was 15 at that time, assaulted Thierry Baudet, the leader of Forum voor Democratie, in Groningen last year. The politician was about to take a photo in a café with the boy after an event for the elections of the House of Representatives but was suddenly hit with a beer bottle and was then transported to a hospital for treatment. Although another suspect, the twin brother of the boy, was arrested in this case, whether he would be prosecuted as well is still unknown. The assault received condemnations from several politicians who labelled it as “unacceptable”. 

According to the public prosecution service, the trial against the boy will start in the fall of this year but will be behind closed door considering his young age. It further said that “[n]o further substantive information will be provided until the substantive hearing”.

In the Netherlands, if youths aged 12 to 17 commit a minor offence, they can be sent to the crime prevention programme. In this event, the suspect can apologize to the victims and pay for damages. In the present case, since the prosecution service will prosecute the boy, they decided the case was not minor. Once the suspects are prosecuted by the public prosecutor, they would receive a summons to the juvenile court under Section two of the code of criminal procedure. The Youth Act is basically applied to juveniles in line with the criminal code while the adolescent criminal law can be applied by a decision of the court to young suspects aged 16 to 22 following the 2014 reform. Other than a custodial sentence, the court can order any alternative sanctions including unpaid work or a training project.