Journalist jailed for refusing to disclose source released

The council chamber of the court in Rotterdam on Friday decided to release a Dutch journalist, who was jailed a day earlier for refusing to answer questions as a witness in an ongoing criminal case.

Journalist Robert Bas of national broadcaster NOS was jailed on Thursday at the order the examining magistrate of the court. The jailing led to fierce protests, including a demonstration by hundreds of journalists on Friday morning before the court building in Rotterdam.

The judges of the council chamber on Friday decided that the examining magistrate was wrong and that Bas rightly relied on his right of non-disclosure.

"The journalist is entitled to this privilege as a witness," the court stated. "That right is not absolute, in the sense that he would not have to answer any question, but in any case means that he does not have to answer questions that would cause him to disclose information about his sources."

Bas reacted with joy after being released. "It should of course never have come that far," he told the NOS. "But I still support the principle of source protection, and will continue to do so in the future."

The criminal case in which Bas was summoned involves the murder of mental health institution director Rob Zweekhorst, who was shot in Berkel en Rodenrijs, western part of the Netherlands, in 2014 after being mistaken by the perpetrator for a rival in the drugs scene. It was therefore considered a "mistaken identity murder."

According to the NOS, Bas earlier this year discovered that the telephone conversations he had with a source were overheard by the judiciary. Reports of these conversations would even have ended up in the case file. Based on this, the reporter was called by the suspect's lawyer to testify. However, Bas stated that answering questions would create a dangerous situation for both him and his source.