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| Archive of Johannes van Damme case now partially open |
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| The Hague, 15 October 2002 |
In the early 1990s the Singaporean authorities arrested two Dutch citizens, Maria Krol-Hmelak and Johannes van Damme. They were charged with drug smuggling. Another Dutchman, Guus van Bladel, assisted the pair as a lay counsellor after their arrest. He would stay with Van Damme until the very end, when he was eventually hanged. This spring Van Bladel presented the personal archive which he maintained about both cases at the time to the Nationaal Archief. This archive contains material of interest to researchers in many fields. For example, details of how the Dutch government deals with the issue of prisoners held abroad. There is also information about undercover police operations, the practices of the Nigerian mafia and the Singaporean judicial system.
Arrests
Maria Krol is arrested on 19 April 1991. In her hotel room the police finds 1.6 kilograms of heroin. The drugs are hidden inside machinery components. Five months later the authorities arrest Johannes van Damme at Singapore Airport. In the false bottom of his suitcase they find 4.32 kilograms of heroin. Both businesspeople are held on remand awaiting trial. Krol and Van Damme do not know one another. But before their arrest both had lived in Nigeria. Things do not look good for either of them. The Singaporean authorities regard possession of 15 or more grams of heroin as a capital offence. If they are convicted, the judge is obliged to impose the death penalty.
Krol’s trial
The trial of Maria Krol-Hmelak begins on 17 September 1993. The prosecution demands the death penalty. She claims that she is innocent. But her chances do not look good. She has been caught red-handed smuggling drugs. But, entirely unexpectedly, the judge acquits her. He says that Krol did not know what she was actually carrying. Maria Krol is able to leave Singapore a free woman. Her trial has lasted a total of 29 days.
Van Damme’s trial
Van Damme is not so lucky. He has already been sentenced to death in April 1993. The court does not believe his claim that he has been deceived by a Nigerian business associate. After the verdict Van Damme is moved to death row. At the end of November his appeal is heard. The court finds that there is no new, mitigating evidence. The judges uphold the death sentence. On 6 May 1994 Van Damme’s lawyer submits a petition for clemency to the President of Singapore. The Dutch government supports this on humanitarian grounds. A month later, however, the petition is rejected. All legal avenues have now been exhausted. Even a letter from Queen Beatrix to the President of Singapore fails to change the sentence. On Friday 23 September 1994, between six and six thirty in the morning, Johannes Van Damme is hanged at Changi Prison.
More information
For more information about the Guus van Bladel archive and Maria Krol-Hmelak, please contact Suzanne Barbier of the Communications Department at the Nationaal Archief, on +31 (0)70 331 5455 or at suzanne.barbier@nationaalarchief.nl.
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