AMSTERDAM - The Groningen court has released a 27-year-old man who shot dead the Amsterdam rapper Rel last year from further criminal prosecution. The shooting in the home of Jason B. in Hoogezand was the result of self-defense, the court finds. The prosecution demanded a prison sentence of eighteen years two weeks ago.

Rel forced his way into B.'s house in the middle of the night with three friends, presumably because of an argument over drugs. B. allegedly robbed one of the assailants two months earlier. During the skirmish that ensued, B. got hold of a gun, which he emptied on the intruders. In the process, Rel was seriously injured. His friends drove him back to their hometown in Amsterdam, where they wanted to deliver him to the AMC emergency room. Rel did not survive that ride of at least an hour and a half.

The court finds that B.'s role as a shooter is proven, but that he did so because he went into a blind panic. "It is a classic emergency defense excess," argues B.'s lawyer Serge Weening. "It makes sense that he had to defend himself against the intruders." On top of that, the court cannot determine to whom the gun belonged, with which it was fired. It is possible that the gun, a German police weapon, was taken by the foursome. Therefore, the court argues that it was panic that led B. to start shooting. It is not yet clear whether the prosecution will appeal.

The defendant(s) in this case are assisted by: