The Dutch trial against Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam, an alleged notorious Eritrean human trafficker, will commence on 31 March. Kidane will face charges of various severe human rights abuses, including the rape, torture, murder and ransoming of refugees in closed compounds in Libya.
The Walid case: an important precedent
Kidane’s trial follows the recent Walid judgement, in which the court of Zwolle convicted another notorious Eritrean criminal leader to 20 years in prison for similar crimes. The Walid case is of significant importance, as it creates a precedent for criminal jurisdiction even in cases where most of the perpetrators, victims and main elements of crime take place outside the territory of the prosecuting State. Because the Dutch court stated that the effects of crime also must be taken into account to determine the locus delicti (place of the crime), both the accusations of extortion and smuggling were found to have a territorial link with the Netherlands. This broad interpretation of territoriality resulted in Dutch jurisdiction to take on the Walid case.
In the Walid case, the Dutch Public Prosecutor pressed charges for co-perpetration between the criminal undertakings of Walid and Kidane, given that they cooperated closely and systematically when running their enterprises. However, the court found there was not sufficient evidence to sustain this and dismissed these charges. A conviction for Kidane in the Walid judgement as a co-perpetrator was therefore out of the question, but he will now face charges on his own as sole perpetrator.
Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam’s modus operandi
Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam, or “Kidane” for short, is an Eritrean allegedly profiting from the migration of people from the Horn of Africa, mostly Eritrea, to Europe via well-established routes through Sudan and Libya. He has the reputation of being one of the most brutal, gruesome traffickers that operates on this route.
In the compounds in Libya, Kidane would hold the refugees captive until they paid a very high ransom; often multiple times. His modus operandi was utterly cruel, establishing a network of extortion paired with severe violence. First, he would let his victims call their family members or friends and ask for the money to buy their freedom. During these calls, he would have them beaten, threatened, tortured and even raped, to make sure their families would send the money as quickly as possible. At his hands refugees suffered immensely, often for months on end, until their families were able to pay the ransom.
With the profits he made with his criminal enterprise, Kidane was said to live a decadent life of luxury. He purchased real estate in Asmara, Addis Ababa and Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he also set up his money-laundering business. He was convicted of money laundering in the UAE, where he spent 18 months in prison before his extradition to The Netherlands.
Untouchable, or not so much?
His alleged ties with high-ranking officials in the Eritrean military and the high level of corruption in the countries where Kidane operated seemed to protect him against any criminal prosecution. Despite successfully escaping the attention of the law enforcement authorities for a long time, Kidane was arrested in Ethiopia in February 2020, after he was recognized by one of his victims. However, during his trial, he escaped and was convicted in absentia by the Ethiopian court. On the first of January of 2023, he was apprehended in Khartoum by the Sudanese police in cooperation with officers from the UAE.
There is a significant Eritrean community in the Netherlands, with a lot of people that are family members of Kidane’s victims or even fell into the hands of his enterprise themselves. Accordingly, the Netherlands wants to try him for the crimes he committed against these people. He was extradited on 24 December 2025 to be tried for leading a criminal network responsible for extortion, smuggling and inhumane treatment. His trial will start on the 31st of March 2026. Proceedings against intermediaries facilitating these infamous ransom payments are also scheduled before the Dutch courts for April.