Before applying Aydin Coban’s 13-year sentence to Dutch law, judges want to know when he is likely to be released
Judges in Amsterdam want more information from Canadian authorities before they decide how to punish a Dutch man who was found guilty last year of extorting and harassing a teenager named Amanda Todd in British Columbia.
On Thursday, the Dutch court was supposed to say how it would change Aydin Coban’s 13-year Canadian sentence to fit the Dutch legal system. Instead, the decision was put off. No date has been set for a new hearing.
The judges said they want more information from Canada about when Coban would probably get out of prison if he served his time in a Canadian jail.
Coban’s lawyer says that Canadian officials have given him a few possible release dates but not the “most likely date,” which is what has caused the delay.
Coban was given 13 years in prison by the B.C. Supreme Court last fall for extortion, harassment, and other crimes against Todd, who was forced to strip in front of a webcam.
In 2012, the 15-year-old girl from Port Coquitlam killed herself, just a few weeks after talking about her years of pain in a YouTube video that was watched more than 15 million times.
Coban was already in the Netherlands serving an 11-year sentence for similar crimes against 33 other people when he was sent to Canada to stand trial for Todd’s case.
When his first prison term ends in August 2024, he will start serving his Canadian sentence in the Netherlands. However, the newer sentence had to be changed to fit Dutch law.
Last month, a prosecutor in the Netherlands said that for the crimes that were done to Todd, a Dutch court would usually give the person four years in prison.
Still, Kasper van der Schaft asked judges to give Coban an extra six months and said that Canadians who knew about Todd’s case would be surprised if his 13-year sentence was cut by more than half.
Coban’s Dutch lawyer, Robert Malewicz, said that after a sentence that was “extremely long, even by Canadian standards,” his client shouldn’t have to spend any more time in jail.
He also said that his client felt like he had already been given “a life sentence” because Canadian authorities had released his name in connection with the criminal case, which is something Dutch authorities do not do.
WATCH: Amanda Todd’s mother talks about Coban’s possible shorter sentence:
In October, when Coban was sentenced, Canadian Justice Martha Devlin explained how he used 22 different names to talk to Todd on Facebook, YouTube, and Skype and demand web cam shows. Over more than two years, he sent her more than 700 messages and made “persistent online threats,” according to Devlin.
Coban, who was in his 30s at the time, told Todd’s friends and family that he would send them pictures and videos of Todd in compromising positions.
When Todd didn’t do what Coban wanted, Coban posted and shared sexually suggestive and pornographic pictures of Todd on Facebook, in YouTube comments, and on image hosting sites.
Even though she didn’t agree with the Crown’s claim that Coban was the “dominant factor” in Todd’s suicide, Devlin said that the man’s harassment contributed to her mental health problems, depression, and drug use.
“Mr. Coban’s stated goal was to ruin Amanda’s life, and sadly, he did just that,” Devlin said.
WATCH: The government of B.C. puts forward a bill to protect the rights of people who are hurt online: