THE HAGUE, 01/11/03 - Murder to avenge family honor will not be mentioned separately in legislation as a ground for heavier sentences. Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk have rejected a plan for this submitted by the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF).

When deciding on sentences, courts can already take the fact of avenging family honor into account. Besides this, a person convicted of murder can already receive a life sentence, the maximum penalty in the Netherlands. So it is unnecessary to make amendments to the Criminal Code on this point, Donner argued.

LPF MP Joost Eerdmans had requested the increased penalty clause as a result of the murder of a Turkish girl from Almelo. Her father shot and killed her during a holiday in Turkey on the grounds that her behavior was too Western.