User:Editor3498/Astrid Holleeder

Astrid Holleeder (Amsterdam, 4 december 1965) is a Dutch lawyer and author. She is a sister to notable criminal Willem Holleeder and together with her older sister and an ex-girlfriend of Willem was a witness against him in the Vandros case. In 2016 she published Judas, writing about the relationship with Willem, his dominance within their family and the influence of his criminal activities in his personal realm.

Early years and career
Holleeder was born as the fourth and youngest child in the Holleeder household in Amsterdam. Her oldest sibling is Willem. She also has a sister named Sonja, who was married to Cor van Hout for more than twenty years, as well as another brother. They grew up on a street named Eerste Egelantiersdwarsstraat in the De Jordaan neighbourhood. Her father was employed at Heineken, was a heavy drinker and abused his wife and children. After primary school, Holleeder attended VWO. When she was 15 years old, her mother finally left her husband and took their children with her. In 1983, Holleeder was first confronted with the criminal underworld, when her brother Willem turned out to be involved in the kidnapping of Freddy Heineken. Like the other members of the family, she was arrested and heard due to potential involvement in the kidnapping. She decided to study Law after finishing secondary school, at the University of Amsterdam. She noticed that her family background was being used against her, after which she continued her studies at Cambridge University in England. Holleeder had a relationship with a gallery holder from Amsterdam and a daughter was born to them in 1985, presenter and actress Miljuschka Witzenhausen.

Holleeder finished her studies in 1995. Due to her family background, it turned out to be difficult for her to work as a lawyer. She was being obstructed by people includong prosecutor Fred Teeven. Her brother Willem then ensured that his counselor Bram Moszkowicz would become herlawyer. She specialized in criminal law and noticed that her name worked as an advantage with some criminals, because they knew and trusted the Holleeder family. Despite her profession, she also remained trust person to Willem, who would sometimes call or visit her when he went mad, had problems, or needed help with something. He regularly threatened and abused her.

Witness in the Passage case
In March 2015, the Openbaar Ministerie (the public prosecution service of the Netherlands) announced that Holleeder, as well as his sister Sonja and an ex-girlfriend of Willem who was also the widow of his former companion Sam Klepper), had made an incriminating statement against Willem in the Passage case, in which Willem Holleeder was not formally a suspect. Amongst others, they accused him of the murder of Klepper in 2000, his brother in law Cor van Hout and boat tradesman Robert ter Haak in 2003, real estate deales Willem Endstra in 2004, criminal John Mieremet and hash dealer Kees Houtman in 2005 and restaurant owner Thomas van der Bijl in 2006. Astrid Holleeder had recorded various confidential conversations with him, in which he had made acknowledgements about the accusations.

In November 2015, she made a statement in court against her brother. Some months later, the Openbaar Ministerie announced that Willem had been making plans to have Astrid, their sister Sonja, his former girlfriend and crime journalist Peter R. de Vries all liquidated.

Judas
In November 2016, the ego document Judas was published. She had been working on this for some years. In this book, she described her family circumstances, with detailed elaboration on her early years. She also writes on the relationship to her brother Willem, her consideration on being a witness against him and how she collected evidence against him through audio recordings. She also elaborated on her contact with Peter R. de Vries and how his threat-related complaint against Willem led to his long-term imprisonment.

As a safety measure, the book was printed abroad and offered to bookstores without title or author mention. During interviews which were held due to this book, Astrid revealed she was in hiding and fearing for her life. She mostly viewed the book as a testament to her daughter. The book's title constituted a reference to the Biblical character named Judas, who betrayed Jesus Christ, and it refers to the betrayel committed by Willem Holleeder by liquidating those who had been viewed as his closest friends, as well as her own betrayal by serving as a witness against him. 80,000 copies which made up the first edition were sold out after one day. It became the best selling book in 2016 in the Netherlands.

This bestseller came out in 2018 in various countries including the United States, France, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Russia, Spain, Italy, Canada, Australia, New Zeeland, India, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

In 2018, the book was converted into a theatre show which has been going on since August 31 of that year. Also, movie rights were sold to international production companies Atlas Entertainment and Amblin Television.

In the Netherlands, the movie rights were sold to RTL Nederland, who converted it in 2019 into a six-part television series. This series was also titles Judas and broadcast by RTL 4 and Videoland.

Dagboek van een getuige
In October 2017, a second book from Holleeder came out, titled Dagboek van een getuige (literally: Diary of a witness. In this book beschrijft she describes her negative experiences as a witness with the judicial organisation.