(Amsterdam) A Dutchman, convicted in British Columbia for extortion and harassment against a Canadian teenager who committed suicide after being the victim of online blackmail, saw his sentence reduced Thursday by a court in ‘Amsterdam from 13 to 6 years old.
Aydin Coban was not present at the Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court during the brief hearing during which the sentence was announced. His lawyer, Robert Malewicz, said he would appeal the decision to the Dutch Supreme Court.
Aydin Coban was extradited from the Netherlands to Canada in 2020 to stand trial on charges related to Amanda Todd, who committed suicide in 2012 at the age of 15 after posting a video describing the torment she suffered suffered from an online harasser. Coban was born in 1978, according to court documents, making him 44 or 45 years old.
He was sent to Canada on the condition that his sentence be served in a Dutch prison. It also meant that the prison sentence imposed by the British Columbia Supreme Court last year had to be converted to a sentence in the Netherlands.
In July, Dutch prosecutors said the Canadian sentence should be reduced to four and a half years, in line with Dutch sentencing guidelines and time spent in the harsh conditions of a Canadian prison.
The court’s decision did not take into account the time spent behind bars in Canada and sentenced him to the maximum possible sentence of six years.
Coban is serving an 11-year sentence in the Netherlands after being convicted of similar charges relating to the online extortion of 33 young girls and gay men. The sentence imposed Thursday will be served after he completes his current prison sentence next year.
Mr. Malewicz called the Canadian sentence “exorbitant, even by Canadian standards.” He said Coban should not receive any additional prison time, but if the court decided to give him a prison term, it should not be more than one year, with six months suspended.
“We will go all the way to the Supreme Court,” he told reporters after Thursday’s brief hearing.
Amanda Todd’s suicide brought public attention to the problem of cyberbullying in Canada after the Port Coquitlam teenager posted a video on YouTube in which she described, using handwritten signs, how a stranger had encouraged her to expose her breasts on a webcam.
The image ended up on a Facebook page, to which his friends were added.
She was repeatedly bullied, changed schools, and ultimately committed suicide a few weeks after posting the video.
Last year, a British Columbia jury found Coban guilty of all charges against him, including communicating with a young person to commit a sexual offense and possessing and distributing child pornography.
At Mr Coban’s sentencing last year, Canadian judge Martha Devlin said “the serious impact of the offenses on Amanda was obvious to Mr Coban and would have been obvious to anyone at the time.” .
She argued that “ruining Amanda’s life was Mr. Coban’s expressly stated goal.” Unfortunately, he reached it.”