ALANYA – The district court in Alanya, Turkey yesterday ruled that the released Turkish rapist Hakan Karayavuz has to go back to prison. According to the Alanya public prosecutor’s office, Karayavuz must serve between 7 and 10 years. Foreign Minister Jozias van Aartsen reacted with satisfaction to the verdict.

Karayavuz was condemned to life imprisonment for the rape of two Dutch women and the murder of their friend Marijke van Dijk in the mountains near Alanya in 1995. After seven years in jail, the man was released last week under a Turkish amnesty law, which did not however apply to him. Van Aartsen therefore made contact with his Turkish counterpart Cem and decided Monday evening in consultation with the government to postpone Crown Prince Willem Alexander and Princess Maxima’s visit to Turkey. The postponement will still apply following the court ruling.

Lawyer Yme Drost, who represents the two Dutch women who survived the drama, was not yet certain yesterday that Karayavuz would have to go back behind bars based on the wrongful application of the amnesty. “I only know that he has been transferred to the prison,” he said.

Van Aartsen termed it “good that this has been set right by an independent judge. ” Satisfaction reigns, according to his spokesman. He could not yet say when a new date will be set for the royal couple’s visit, which had been planned for Thursday and Friday.