Former Dutch member of parliament and current spokesperson of the Eritrean regime-affiliated “Federatie van Eritrese Gemeenschappen in Nederland” Myra Koomen appeared yesterday in the Court of Amsterdam. Also sued with her is the Eritrean organization for which she is a spokesperson of. Two Tigrayans associations in the Netherlands and three Tigrayan individuals brought a case against her for what she said following the Eritrean Riots in the Hague on 17 Februari 2024. Immediately after the violent incident between Eritrean groups, Myra Koomen appeared in the media and blamed Tigrayans for the riot. She said:
“that Brigade Nhamedu, which committed all that violence outside, are not actually Eritreans, they are Ethiopians, they are young people from the Tigray region. Tigray is also a nation and there has been a civil war going on in that area for a few years and to date the war has not been won by them. And they now want to express their anger, their frustration, … take it out with severe physical violence against these people.”
This totally unfounded and dangerous blaming of Tigrayans rings very familiar to Tigrayans: it is the perpetual demonization and portrayal of Tigrayans as criminals and violent by the Eritrean regime being spoken by a white Dutch woman. This is especially hurtful in that it is spoken after the Eritrean regime together with the Ethiopian regime has committed a genocide against the Tigrayans in the genocidal Tigray War, and the violence is still taking place in different forms including kidnapping, raping, occupation of Tigrayan lands, and blockading of Tigray.
The case against Myra Koomen included associating Tigrayans with a crime they have absolutely no involvement in, damaging the good name and honor of Tigrayans, and causing them reputational damage that can have negative consequences in many different ways for the Tigrayans in the Netherlands. One of the Tigrayan plaintiff from the Tigrayan youth in the Netherlands said she sees this demonization and association with violence of Tigrayans as a continuation of the Eritrean and Ethiopian regimes anti-Tigrayan rhetoric that fueled the Tigray genocide, adding that she feels she fled from it in search of a safe refuge only to find it here again.
Myra Koomen and her co-defendant’s defense lines included mentioning utterances by supposedly Brigade N’Hamedu members saying they want to see Greater Tigray, or showing sympathy for the plight of Tigrayans which, according to her, testify to their Tigrayaness. Also she added she didn’t say all Tigrayans are involved, and freedom of expression (that she is entitled to express her opinion).
The public court hearing was attended by members of the Tigrayan community in the Netherlands and members of the Eritrean-regime affilated Federation of Eritrean Community In the Netherlands.
The verdict will be given on August 2, 2024. This court case may be a beginning for many court cases the Tigrayans may bring against individuals that wantonly defame and stigmatize them, and damage their reputation and honor as peaceful and hardworking people, and also against individuals that may have involvement in the Tigray Genocide.
See also
- Previous Press Release by one of the Tigrayan associations in the Netherlands regarding Myra Koomen’s attempt to associate Tigrayans with the the Hauge Eritrean Riot
- Implicating Tigrayans in the Hague riots complicity in Eritrea’s genocidal campaign
- Myra Koomen’s tainted past according to the Volkskrant
