AMSTERDAM — A Dutch lawyer is attempting to get his client out of jail with an unusual argument: he’s too tall and fat for his cell.
“He is a giant of a man, there’s no way you cannot realize that as soon as you see him,” Bas Martens said Friday. He said his client, about 6 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 500 pounds, is in a 12 square-yard cell.
The prisoner, identified under Dutch privacy laws as Angelo M., began serving an 18-month sentence for financial fraud in September.
Martens sought a court order at a hearing Thursday for Angelo to serve his sentence under house arrest.
He said the prison facilities in Krimpen aan de IJssel — Angelo’s bed and the low toilet in his cell — are too small and so painful that his conditions violate European human rights law. “He’s not trying to escape his punishment: He suffers pain every day,” Martens said.
Martens said officials argued in court that the prison adheres to national standards and they had made efforts to accommodate Angelo’s needs.
But he said measures such as extending his bed with a piece of wood and giving him an extra mattress weren’t good enough.
A judges’ ruling is due on Feb. 8.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
