Gerard Spong (born 9 June 1946) is a Dutch

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

se descent.

Biography

Spong was born in

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

, Suriname. He is a cousin of film director

Pim de la Parra Pim de la Parra (born 5 January 1940) is a Surinamese-Dutch film director. Between 1967 and 1976, he directed films under the independent production company Scorpio Films with Dutch film director Wim Verstappen, who manages all of its achievemen ...

. In 1962, he moved to

Oegstgeest Oegstgeest () is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Its population was in . Etymology The portion ''geest'' in the name refers to the geest lands, which were excavated in the seventeenth cent ...

in the Netherlands. From 1967 to 1973, he studied political science and law in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. After graduating, he returned to Paramaribo, where he was sworn in as a lawyer. In 1976, he returned to Amsterdam. With Mischa Wladimiroff, he started the law firm ''Wladimiroff & Spong Advocaten''. Meanwhile, he specialized in criminal law. In 1978, Spong defended the interests of

Knut Folkerts Knut Detlef Folkerts (born 1 January 1952 in Singen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany) is a former member of the terrorist group, the Red Army Faction (RAF). In 1977 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the Netherlands for murder. Later he was c ...

, Christof Wackernagel and Gert Schneider, three members of the

Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (RAF, ; , ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (, , active 1970–1998), was a West German far-left Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group founded in 1970. The ...

who were arrested in the Netherlands in 1977 and imprisoned in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

. The three appealed against an extradition request from

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and wanted to be seen as a political refugee. Eventually, they were transferred to Germany in October 1978. In 1980, he defended a number of opponents of the then Surinamese dictator

Desi Bouterse DESI may refer to * Desorption electrospray ionization * Drug Efficacy Study Implementation * Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument See also * Desi (disambiguation) Desi or Deshi is a self-referential term used by South Asian people. Desi may al ...

in Paramaribo, who had to appear before the ward council. Spong was suddenly arrested at night by Bouterse's military in his room at the Torarica hotel and was brought to Fort Zeelandia (Bouterse's headquarters). Spong was questioned here by Bouterse and

Roy Horb Roy Dennis Horb (13 December 1953 – 2 February 1983) was a Surinamese military officer. He was one of the sergeants who committed a military coup in Suriname on 25 February 1980, and the right hand man of army leader Dési Bouterse. Biography ...

, and released again after eleven hours. He had to leave the country immediately. In 2008, Spong was one of the guests of ''

College Tour A college tour, also called a campus tour, is a tour of a college or university's campus. Prospective students, their family members and other visitors take campus tours to learn about the college or university's facilities, as well as student life, ...

'', a television program where students interview a guest. The show was held at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

. One of the students asked Spong why

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

, a far-right Dutch politician, had never been prosecuted for

hate speech Hate speech is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thoug ...

. Spong replied that public prosecutors lacked guts, and freely offered his services to file charges against Wilders on behalf of the students. The

Public Prosecution Service A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...

decided not to prosecute, therefore, Spong filed an forcing a prosecution. In 2011, Wilders had to appear in court for hate speech. He was found not guilty. Spong received multiple death threats during the period.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spong, Gerard 1946 births Living people 20th-century Dutch lawyers 20th-century Surinamese lawyers Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands Surinamese people of Jewish descent Surinamese people of Portuguese descent People from Paramaribo Surinamese exiles 21st-century Dutch lawyers