Sister of woman tortured to death in NL: They will set the killer free soon

Katsiaryna Khanyak found her death in the city of Baarle-Nassau back in November 2007. Her jealous husband Robert Brockel  cut her in the hip with a knife first, and then put her into a children's cupboard and poured with construction mix. He was sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment only this year in August. 7,5 years have passed.

Katsiaryna's Belarusian sisters (the only full-aged casualties mentioned in the criminal case) were not invited to the trial when the sentence was pronounced.

"No one contacted me at all. I saw an article about his conviction accidentally on the Internet, - the victim's sister Nadzeya tells Euroradio. - Thank God they sent him to prison for murder - I thought they would do it for children's pornography or drugs. I still think that 11 years is a too short term. I think they will set him free soon, in some 5 years. It was suspicious that the investigation lasted for so long and they couldn't find the proofs although they were obvious. They twisted and postponed everything..."

Robert Brockel (left) accompanied by one of his lawyers

Having committed the murder, Robert Brockel escaped to the United States and was caught there. The Dutchman with a good financial state hired the best lawyers, and was released soon. He was arrested several more times during all these years. In 2010, another criminal case was started against Brockel for transportation of cocaine. He was also accused of child pornography distribution. Still, Brockel was a relatively free man throughout the years. Two Belarusian sisters of Katsiaryna Khanyak (the parents had died) couldn't influence the case in any way. The murdered Belarusian was buried in the social grave without her sisters' permission, with even no indication of the years of birth and death.

"How's your niece Nicole these days? Whom does she live with?" we ask Nadzeya. 

"I have no information about her whatsoever. They just told us off, like, mind your business. Our niece is now 11, and we know nothing about her. I think they treat us with no proper respect abroad, they don't think it is necessary even to give us information."

This is how Nicole looked at 4

Euroradio also came across the assumed biased attitude to Belarusians in the Netherlands. Last September, we sent an official enquiry to the sector of assistance to crime victims of Breda Public Prosecutor's Office. We asked why the Belarusian sisters of the murdered woman got no information and why Katsiaryna Khanyak was buried in the Netherlands without her sisters' permit. The foreign law-enforcement officials provided us no reply. 

Photo: Brokels family archives, nieuwsblad.be