Amsterdam court needs more Canadian detail for verdict in cyberbullying case

AMSTERDAM — Judges in Amsterdam said on Thursday they need more information from Canadian authorities as they consider the sentence of a Dutch man convicted in Canada last year of crimes including extortion and harassment of Canadian teen Amanda Todd.

The ruling delayed legal action to commute Aydin Coban’s 13-year Canadian sentence to a Dutch prison sentence in the notorious online racketeering case.

Coban blackmailed the 15-year-old into exposing himself in front of a webcam. She took her own life in 2012 after recounting her ordeal in a YouTube video that was viewed by millions around the world.

At a brief court hearing Thursday when a new sentence was expected to be announced, a judge instead said the Amsterdam court panel needs clarification from Canada on the most likely date Coban would be released if he served his sentence in a Canadian prison.

“We have to consider when he would actually have been released and Canadian authorities have given some possible dates, but don’t say that’s the most likely date he would be released,” Coban’s lawyer Robert Malewicz told reporters at the courthouse .

No new date has been set for a hearing in the case. An appeal against the sentence can still be lodged with the Supreme Court.

Coban was already serving an 11-year sentence in the Netherlands for similar crimes against more than 30 other victims when he was extradited to Canada to face trial in the Todd case. Her death brought the issue of cyberbullying to the attention of the general public in Canada.

He was sent to Canada on the condition that he serve the sentence imposed there in a Dutch prison. The Canadian sentence must also be converted to Dutch sentencing standards.

Prosecutors said two weeks ago that under Dutch law he must serve four and a half years.

Malewicz called the Canadian sentence “exorbitantly high, even by Canadian standards”. He said Coban should not receive an additional prison sentence, but if he does, it should not exceed one year, with six months probation. That would mean Coban would only have to serve an extra six months if he commits another offense.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 13, 2023.

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