An administrative court in Almere considered whether the mayor was justified in closing the rental home of a 54-year-old resident at Gezellenhof for three months. Two boys suspected of having just committed an armed robbery at City Jewellery were found in the home on November 29 last year. Police also found clothes linked to them in a washing machine and a firearm in a bin in the resident’s bedroom. The mayor said the closure was necessary because the property might be used as a base by criminals and that there was a risk of repetition. An eviction request was granted at the end of June.

The resident said he had known nothing about the robbery or the firearm and that he was wrongly forced out. He said he spent five weeks in a tent and now lives with the Salvation Army while looking for another home. His lawyer argued that camera surveillance and additional monitoring could have been used instead, and disputed the suggestion that the property was a criminal base. The mayor’s spokesperson said those measures would not have been sufficient given the seriousness of the findings. The court is expected to rule in six weeks.