The decisions made by a judge in the Court of First Instance (Prome Instancia) are not always the end of a criminal legal process. In the year 2025, a total of 85 appeals (hoger beroep) were filed against sentences. In the vast majority of these cases, it was the suspect who appealed (67 times), while the Public Prosecutor filed for an appeal in 18 cases. Eventually, in 9 cases, the appeal was withdrawn or dropped.
Regarding the trends at the highest level of the judicial system, appeals in Cassation (Casatie, before the Supreme Court of the Netherlands/Hoge Raad) saw a small decline. In the year 2025, there were 8 cases submitted for cassation by suspects, compared to the 10 cases recorded the previous year in 2024. All cassation cases registered in 2025 involved regular criminal cases (strafzaak).
More than 80 cases went to Appeal in 2025; Cassation cases decrease
