Chinese loses appeal in
human smuggling case
PHILIPSBURG--Chinese national Young Jiang (26), a former employee of the Health Department, lost the appeal in his case in the Joint Court of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
He was found guilty of human smuggling and membership of a criminal organisation, for which he will receive a sentence of 42 months, 24 of which suspended on two years’ probation, the three judges of the Joint Court announced Tuesday.
Jiang’s lawyer Jairo Bloem immediately stated he would appeal this ruling in the High Court in The Hague.
Bloem said the Prosecutor and the Attorney General should have been declared inadmissible in their cases against his client because they had “brutally” violated his client’s rights.
Bloem had stated in the Joint Court that not only had legal documents not been handed to his client on time, but he was also thwarted by the Prosecutor in his free choice of a lawyer.
The Court of Appeal ruled that Jiang’s rights had indeed been violated. This should lead to a reduction of his prison sentence, but not to declaring the Attorney General’s case against Jiang inadmissible, the Court of Appeal ruled.
On July 5, the Court of First Instance had sentenced Jiang to 18 months, 13 of which were suspended, with three years’ suspension for involvement in the smuggling of Chinese nationals into St. Maarten.
The Prosecutor had asked for six years, the same demand as Attorney General Ton van der Schans had tabled on November 1 during the handling of the appeal.
The Attorney General had considered it proven that Jiang was guilty of human smuggling, bribery and membership of a criminal organisation.
Yiang had not denied he had assisted in aiding an undisclosed number of undocumented Chinese citizens to gain illegal entry into St. Maarten between January and October 2006. The operation, led from the People’s Republic of China, was designed to lead Chinese immigrants to the U.S. mainland via St. Maarten.
Jiang was the interpreter for the Chinese, whom he also supplied with airplane tickets and other documents, as well as with food and drinks.
The appeals of other suspects in this case will be handled by the Joint Court on December 13.
