RENEE GIELEN: "WHY HASN'T THE FAMILY BEEN INVESTIGATED?"
ORANJESTAD – With her documentary “Natalee. The Unrevealed Timelines’ which premiered on Telearuba on Saturday, the movie maker Renee Gielen wanted to once more emphasize the reputed, ‘dubious’ role the Holloway family played in the disappearance of Natalee. Various speakers repeat what has already had a lot of attention in the media: why hasn’t the family been investigated? Did the FBI thwart the investigation? Was there political pressure put on the Kingdom?
One of the former head of the Holloway investigation, Gerold Dompig, has answered all these questions to Gielen, just as he did previously in front of the Dutch tv program ‘Netwerk’ and ‘EenVandaag’. The film maker had already heard it when she spoke to him last year. After Dompig was sidetracked by the FBI, was threatened by the FBI and was put under pressure by the American consul on Curaçao, he revealed to every journalist which asked him that there were obscure interests at stake.
According to him the highest ranks saw to it that the investigation did not focus on the Holloway family themselves. This was possible due to the fact that the Holloway family counted the American vice-president Dick Cheney as part of their circle of friends, says Dompig in the documentary. He was responsible for having set the case rolling. That is why also the American minister of Foreign Affairs Condoleeza Rice had contact with the Dutch government. That is why expensive F-16 planes were sent to Aruba to scan the island. This is all brought forward by Gielen in her movie in which she shows how the Justice department never actually gave a clear reaction to the public.
“The approach of this documentary is not sensational and is not meant to deal with Joran van der Sloot”, says the Curacaoan film maker right before the premier. “I focus on aspects of the case which others left lying.” She traveled to the US, to the state of Alabama where the Holloway family come from. She did not achieve however, with the exception of Natalee’s father Dave, to come into contact with her friends. Dompig experienced the same thing when he wanted to question them, but this is being prevented on a diplomatic level, Gielen reveals. She did manage to interview a well-known American dj in the US which had his doubts from the beginning about the American interference in the case. “And why a boycott against the whole country (Aruba), while there are cases in the US where Danish people and Germans have disappeared”, he points out.
Except for Dompig, Gielen also talked to various people on Aruba about the case. Apparently an ambulance plane had arrived on Aruba (too) shortly after the disappearance of the girl to fly her to the US once found, an account which Gielen had already revealed to the media. The plane had stood on standby on the airport for days, without having informed the Aruban authorities. Why was it better to keep this from the Aruban authorities? There’s also the question as to why the family left the police in uncertainty about a possible golden tip which mother Beth received shortly after the disappearance? A lot of questions which also Gielen doesn’t have the answers to in the documentary, but which remain fascinating.
ORANJESTAD – Renown scientists believe that the ‘tv-confession’ by Joran van der Sloot (21) about his involvement in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway is reliable. Their statement was made after crime reporter Peter R. De Vries requested to review the conversations between Van der Sloot and infiltrator Patrick van der Eem. The scholars don’t believe that Joran lied, which he claimed he did after the results of the undercover action. Also concerning the reputed trafficking in women, Van der Sloot reported that it was bluff.
According to professor of psychology Harald Merkelback, Joran felt ‘at ease’ in the car. “His story against Van der Eem made a very authentic impression. A crucial moment lies in the movements he makes when he says that Natalee started trembling. You don’t act like that when a story is fabricated.” The scientists Corine de Ruiter (forensic psychology) and Peter van Koppen (legal psychology) also believe that the story doesn’t come over rehearsed.
In yesterday’s broadcast by De Vries, a friend of the suspect by the name of Celes said that Van der Sloot made insinuations about getting rid of a body and hinted that his father knew more about the case. “Only one person knows exactly what happened. He made Joran always lie and twist things around”. The friend had given an detailed testimony at the Dutch investigation bureau.
Public Prosecution
The Public Prosecutor in the Netherlands will not be taking any steps yet after the broadcast. “If there’s a case of a criminal offence, then further investigation has to be done”, says a spokesperson of the National Prosecutor’s Office. “Punishable acts are not determined on the basis of a television broadcast.”
The Public Prosecution on Aruba is still conferring about a possible reaction, says spokesperson Ann Angela. Also about whether the ‘new witness’ plays a role in the investigation. Only in December will they decide whether or not action will be taken against Van der Sloot. His testimonies on tv seem to be insufficient material for the Justice Department to prosecute him.
Whether the Public Prosecution will also investigate possible criminal practices of the 21 year old Van der Sloot is left in the middle. It is possible that the Thai authorities will act as according to criminal reporter De Vries, while in the Thai capital Bangkok Van der Sloot proposed to pay Thai women to go to the Netherlands to work for the sex industry. It did not result in real business. In the new undercover action Van der Sloot did accept a downpayment of 1000 euros for the preparations of this ‘human trafficking’, something which could be punishable.
Fugitive
Joran van der Sloot did not wait for the Thai authorities. According to the Dutch media he’s on the run after he was exposed as a trafficker of women on Sunday. Shortly before the broadcast yesterday of De Vries’ program he disappeared without a trace. The Thai justice department has woken up following the commotion surrounding the case and has asked the Dutch embassy for video material.
“They want the broadcast translated, so that the Justice Department in Thailand can view it from a criminal point of view”, decalred De Vries today. “They have told me that they will come into action as the approach to trafficking of women is very important.” The Thai embassy wasn’t available for comments today.
Joran van der Sloot has threatened to send a hired killer from Thailand to Peter R. de Vries if the criminal reporter doesn’t stop trailing him or approaching Van der Sloots’ friends or family. “If it really is bullshit again, I will send someone for him”, wrote Van der Sloot this week in an msn-message.
According to a witness, Joran was at a party in Bangkok last Friday evening, but didn’t return home after that. Another man claims to have seen him on an inland flight to the island of Koh Samui off the Thai coast. Van der Sloot’s lawyer, Bert de Rooij, reported that the talks with his client are strenuous.
Millions of viewers
According to the figures by the Nederlandse Stichting KijkOnderzoek (Dutch viewers research foundation) De Vries’ broadcast last night attracted almost 3.5 million viewers. That’s half of the number of viewers which followed Van der Sloot’s confession at the beginning of the year in a broadcast about Natalee Holloway. The broadcast wasn’t aired on Aruba or in the Netherlands Antilles.
1 comment:
Renee is a bitch and I would never purchase a mag newspaper or anything else that lying dog has ever written anything for!!!
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