Said Razzouki, known in court papers as Said R., is one of three men sentenced to life imprisonment on February 27, 2024 in the Marengo case, the largest criminal trial in Dutch history. The Rechtbank Amsterdam, the district court, sentenced him to life for the co-perpetration of a murder, an attempted murder, four preparations of murder and complicity in a murder. Dutch prosecutors described him as the right-hand man of Ridouan Taghi, the man the court named as the undisputed leader of the criminal organisation behind the killings. Razzouki has denied belonging to any such group and has appealed. In November 2026 the Gerechtshof Amsterdam, the court of appeal, was still hearing the case.
The case took its name from the investigation that led to seventeen defendants standing trial together before the Rechtbank Amsterdam. The first pro forma hearing took place on March 23, 2018, the day prosecutors announced an agreement with a crown witness, Nabil B. The court later counted 142 hearing days. Across them the defendants faced charges of taking part in a criminal organisation and, in differing combinations, six murders, four attempted murders and the preparation of further killings.
Six deaths between September 2015 and January 2017 lay at the centre of the indictment: Ronald Bakker on September 9, 2015 in Huizen; Samir Erraghib on April 17, 2016 in IJsselstein; Abderrahim Belhadj on May 9, 2016 in Amsterdam-Zuidoost; Ranko Scekic on June 22, 2016 in Utrecht; Martin Kok on December 8, 2016 in Laren; and Hakim Changachi on January 12, 2017 in Utrecht. Changachi was killed in a case of mistaken identity. The prosecution's list of charges, as it set them out in June 2022, read: six murders, four attempted murders, preparation of four murders, an attack on a business premises, and "deelname aan een criminele organisatie die onder meer tot doel had het plegen van moord", participation in a criminal organisation whose aims included murder.
Prosecutors said that he, with Taghi, Mao R. and Mario R., directed the group, and the Rechtbank's own account of the trial lists Ridouan T., Said R. and Mao R. as the three defendants alleged to have led the organisation.
Razzouki was arrested in Medellin, Colombia, in February 2020, after the criminal case against the other suspects was already under way. A Colombian court ruled on July 8, 2021 that he could be extradited. President Ivan Duque signed the extradition order on October 27, 2021, after a court rejected his lawyers' argument that the request had no serious basis. He arrived in the Netherlands on December 6, 2021. At that point prosecutors described the charges against him as a leading role in a criminal organisation, three murders, two attempted murders and preparations of murder.
His case was handled separately from the main hearings. On 7 and December 9, 2021 the Rechtbank Amsterdam heard argument from his new lawyers that hearings held in his case after February 1, 2021 were not legally valid, and it issued a decision on that point on December 17, 2021. When prosecutors set out their demands against the other defendants on June 28, 2022, no demand was made in his case, because it was still under way.
The prosecution's closing statement in his case came on February 17, 2023. The Openbaar Ministerie demanded life imprisonment and described the organisation as completely unscrupulous. Razzouki answered the demand with a single word, "Ridiculous". The court was then expected to deliver its judgment in October 2023; in the event it came in February 2024, in a single judgment day covering all seventeen defendants.
The Rechtbank Amsterdam announced three life sentences: for Ridouan T., Said R. and Mario R. The court's announcement gives his sentence this way: "Said R. krijgt levenslang voor het medeplegen van een moord, een poging tot moord, vier voorbereidingen van moord", followed by a conviction for complicity in murder (medeplichtigheid aan moord). In plain terms, the court found him a co-perpetrator of one murder and of one attempted murder, found that he had prepared four murders, and found him an accomplice to a further murder. The court's announcement does not name the victims of these counts.
On the organisation, the court held that Ridouan T. was "de onbetwiste leider", the undisputed leader. It found that all seventeen defendants took part in the organisation, which it described as ruthless and disruptive and aimed at killing. Two co-defendants were acquitted of leading it, "vrijgesproken van het leidinggeven aan"; the court did not say in its announcement which two.
The judgment differed between defendants on the killings. The court found it proven that Ridouan T. had ordered the murders of Ronald Bakker, Samir Erraghib, Ranko Scekic and Hakim Changachi. It found no evidence that he had ordered the killing of Abderrahim Belhadj, and held that the evidence was insufficient that he had ordered the killing of Martin Kok. The court also held that one murder in the investigation could not be attributed to the organisation. Ridouan T. was convicted of leading the organisation.
The other outcomes in the same judgment were these. Mario R. received life imprisonment. Achraf B. received 29 years and 2 months, Mohamed R. 27 years and Mao R. 15 years and 8 months, in each case less than the life term prosecutors had demanded. The other defendants received sentences from 1 year and 9 months upward, to just over 23 years. All seventeen were convicted.
The court's crown witness was Nabil B., who gave 41 statements to investigators about murders and attempted murders. The court held that the crown witness arrangement had been lawfully applied by the prosecution and found no sign of prohibited promises. It judged him a reliable witness who had kept to his part of the agreement. He was himself convicted of co-perpetration of murder, an attempted murder and complicity in a murder, and received a sentence of 10 years, halved because of his position as crown witness.
Three further killings were not part of the Marengo judgment, though they were linked to the case in public discussion. The brother of the crown witness was killed in 2018, a week after prosecutors announced Nabil B.'s agreement. The lawyer Derk Wiersum was killed in 2019. The journalist Peter R. de Vries was killed in July 2021, and that killing was tried separately. Razzouki was not among the defendants in that trial, and no court has convicted him of any of these three killings.
Razzouki's lawyer said after the verdict that they would appeal the conviction. Prosecutors also appealed, and the Gerechtshof Amsterdam took up the appeal of fourteen defendants. Ridouan T.'s part was delayed because he was without a lawyer. On March 25, 2026 Razzouki put a statement before the court, prepared with his lawyers because his Dutch is limited. He said he disagreed with both the convictions and the sentence, that he had not had a fair trial, and that he had been wrongly held for more than four years in a high-security unit. "Ik heb nooit deel uitgemaakt van een club met mensen die als doel had om andere mensen te vermoorden", he wrote: he had never belonged to a group whose aim was to murder people.
On June 2, 2026 the prosecution demanded life imprisonment against him again, as it did for Ridouan T.'s co-defendants Mario R., Mao R. and Achraf B. The court of appeal's schedule set his defense submissions for August 31 to September 16, 2026, with his closing exchange and last word planned for November 20, 2026. A ruling was expected in early 2027. His conviction is therefore not final.
Razzouki denies belonging to a group aimed at killing and says his trial was unfair; the Rechtbank convicted him. The court's announcement does not say which victims correspond to his counts. The number of killings in his own charges has been reported differently: prosecutors spoke of three murders and two attempted murders on his extradition, and in March 2026 he was described as suspected in two killings, preparations of murder and leading the organisation. The court's finding on leadership, two acquittals with the names not given, leaves open whether he was one of them.
September 9, 2015 to January 12, 2017: the six killings later tried in the Marengo case.
March 23, 2018: first pro forma hearing; the crown witness agreement is announced.
February 2020: Razzouki arrested in Medellin, Colombia.
July 8, 2021: Colombian court rules he can be extradited.
October 27, 2021: extradition order signed.
December 6, 2021: extradited to the Netherlands.
7 and December 9, 2021: hearings on the validity of his earlier hearings; decision issued on December 17, 2021.
June 28, 2022: prosecutors state demands for other defendants; none yet for him.
February 17, 2023: prosecution demands life imprisonment in his case.
February 27, 2024: Rechtbank Amsterdam sentences him to life imprisonment.
March 25, 2026: he gives a written statement in the appeal, denying membership of any such group.
June 2, 2026: prosecution demands life imprisonment on appeal.
August 31 to September 16, 2026: his defense submissions on appeal.
November 20, 2026: closing exchange and last word scheduled.