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Some 30 felony suspects found among refugees in Netherlands

Xinhua, February 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

At least 30 suspects of felonies such as war crimes were found among refugees who came to the Netherlands in 2015, State Secretary for Security and Justice Klaas Dijkhoff said in a briefing on Monday.

A special group within the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service in 2015 investigated 170 refugees, including 60 Syrians. Enough evidence was found against 10 Syrians and 20 others, mainly from Eritrea, Nigeria, Sudan and Georgia, to classify them as suspect.

Another ten Syrians who came to the Netherlands in 2014 are suspected as well, according to the Dijkhoff's briefing to Tweede Kamer, the House of Representatives of the Dutch parliament.

These people are suspected of committing war crimes, crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, or serious non-political crimes outside their country of refuge, said Dijkhoff.

The suspects are given a so-called 1F status. Article 1F of the Refugee Convention states that people do not qualify for protection as refugees as set by this convention if there are serious reasons to believe that they have committed certain crimes or acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

The Netherlands cannot evict all suspects because international treaties prevent eviction to certain countries such as Syria. Suspects from those countries can only be detained in the Netherlands if the public prosecution service has enough evidence to prosecute them.

Although the actual situation in Syria makes it impossible to achieve forced return to Syria, the Dutch Repatriation and Departure Service once every six months has a conversation with the relevant aliens to independently continue working towards them leaving the Netherlands. Endit