Stalking under Dutch law: protection, evidence and defence

Stalking is a criminal offence in the Netherlands, known as harassment (belaging) under article 285b of the Dutch Criminal Code (Wetboek van Strafrecht, Sr). The public prosecutor can only prosecute if you, as the victim, file a formal complaint, and that complaint must be filed within three months. Anyone who unlawfully, systematically and intentionally invades another person’s private life commits the offence, provided they act with the aim of forcing that person to do something, to refrain from doing something or to tolerate something, or of instilling fear. The maximum penalty is three years’ imprisonment or a fourth-category fine. Alongside the criminal route, you can ask the civil court in summary proceedings for a contact ban and an area ban, backed by a penalty payment.

What counts as stalking under Dutch law?

Stalking is a pattern of behaviour, not a single act. Article 285b Sr only applies when four requirements are met at the same time, and the public prosecutor has to prove each of them:

• the conduct is unlawful, meaning there is no justification such as a professional duty or an ongoing legal dispute that makes the contact legitimate;
• the conduct is systematic, so a single message or one unwanted visit is not enough;
• the conduct is intentional and invades the private life of the other person; and
• the person acted with a specific aim: to force the other to do something, not to do something or to tolerate something, or to instil fear.

Because these conditions are cumulative, a stalking case is often decided on one of them rather than on the facts as such. A successful defence usually shows that the contacts were too few and too scattered to be systematic, or that the aim required by the statute is missing.

When is behaviour systematic enough?

Behaviour is systematic when it forms a coherent pattern. There is no fixed number of incidents. The Dutch courts weigh the nature, duration, frequency and intensity of the conduct. They also look at the circumstances in which it took place and the effect it had on the victim’s personal life and freedom.

Ten short messages sent in one evening after a break-up are judged differently from ten messages spread over two years. A combination of different behaviours also weighs heavier than repeating one behaviour. Repeated calls on their own may fall short. Calls combined with waiting outside a workplace, contacting family members and creating new accounts after each block will normally be enough. Duration is the second factor: conduct that continues for weeks or months, and starts again after a clear request to stop, is far more likely to be qualified as belaging than a short burst of contact in an emotional period.

What intent does the law require?

The law requires a specific aim (oogmerk): the person must have acted to force the victim to do something, to refrain from something or to tolerate something, or to instil fear. The victim does not have to have actually given in or been frightened; what counts is the aim behind the conduct.

In practice the court infers that aim from the conduct itself. The reasoning is that behaviour of this kind is generally suited to provoke exactly that reaction. Messages that combine pleading with threats, or contact that continues after an explicit demand to stop, are typical examples.

How common is stalking in the Netherlands?

Stalking is not a marginal problem. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), around 225,000 people aged fifteen or older were victims of stalking in 2023: roughly 137,000 women and 90,000 men, or about two per cent of that age group. CBS also found that about two thirds of female victims knew their stalker, against just under half of male victims. For women, the most common known stalker was a current or former partner (22 per cent), which makes both the evidence and the protective measures more complicated.

Does the law also cover online stalking?

Yes. Article 285b Sr applies to digital conduct in exactly the same way as to physical following. Persistent messages across several platforms, new accounts opened after every block, monitoring through location sharing or tracking software, and posts aimed at the victim’s employer or family all count as invasions of private life. Look at the case as a whole: individual messages may look trivial, and only the pattern shows what is happening.

Which other offences often run alongside it?

Online cases often involve more than one offence. Explicit threats fall under article 285 Sr. Breaking into an email account, a cloud account or a social media profile is computer trespass under article 138ab Sr. Damaging statements presented as fact can amount to defamation under articles 261 and 262 Sr.

Where the conduct is aimed at your reputation rather than at contact, the civil route is often faster. We set out those options in our article on cyberbullying and online reputation damage. Choose the right combination early, because each route has its own evidence and its own timetable.

How do you file a complaint, and when is it too late?

You must file a formal complaint (klacht) within three months of the day you became aware of the offence, as article 66 Sr provides. Belaging is a complaint offence: under article 285b paragraph 2 Sr the public prosecutor may not prosecute without one.

In a complaint you expressly ask for prosecution. That is more than reporting the facts to the police, and the two are easily confused at the police desk. If you miss the three-month window, the criminal route closes, however strong the evidence is.

Under article 67 Sr you can withdraw a complaint within eight days after the day you filed it. After that, withdrawal is no longer possible, so think carefully before you sign, but do not let doubt make you miss the deadline.

The offence itself becomes time-barred after six years under article 70 Sr, because the maximum sentence does not exceed three years. Because belaging is a pattern over time, later incidents are part of the same case. That is one reason to keep recording incidents even after the first complaint.

Which protective orders can stop the contact?

The fastest protection usually comes before any trial, through a behavioural instruction from the public prosecutor. Under article 509hh of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Wetboek van Strafvordering, Sv) the prosecutor can impose on a suspect a contact ban, an area ban, a duty to report to the police, or an instruction to accept assistance.

The instruction applies for a maximum of ninety days and can be extended three times, up to 360 days in total, as long as there is no final judgment. The suspect can put it before the district court.

What can the court impose?

If the suspect is arrested and pre-trial detention is suspended, the court can attach similar conditions to that suspension. At sentencing, a suspended sentence can carry a contact ban as a special condition. The court can also impose the freedom-restricting measure of article 38v Sr. This allows an area ban, a contact ban or a reporting duty for a longer period, enforced by detention if it is breached.

What if you live or lived together?

Where the parties share a household, the mayor can impose a temporary domestic exclusion order (tijdelijk huisverbod) under the Wet tijdelijk huisverbod. It removes the person from the home for ten days and can be extended to twenty-eight days in total. That buys time to arrange further measures.

Can you go to the civil court instead?

Yes. The civil route runs in parallel and does not depend on the police. In summary proceedings under article 254 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Wetboek van Burgerlijke Rechtsvordering, Rv) the preliminary relief judge can impose a contact ban and an area ban on the basis of unlawful act (article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code, BW). The judge can attach a penalty payment under article 611a Rv, so that every breach costs money immediately.

This is often the more effective instrument when the criminal file is still thin, and it can be combined with a claim for damages. What victims can claim after a criminal case is set out in our guide to victims’ rights in Dutch civil law.

What evidence convinces the police and the court?

A clear, complete record of the pattern convinces most, because the pattern is the offence. Keep one chronological log in which you record every incident with the date, the time, the place, what happened and who else saw it.

• Save messages as full screenshots that show the sender, the time stamp and the surrounding conversation, not only the one sentence that looks worst.
• Request call records from your provider before they are deleted.
• Ask colleagues, neighbours and family who repeatedly saw the same person in the same place for a statement.
• Keep camera images and delivery records for unwanted gifts.

What should you avoid?

Do not gather evidence unlawfully. Placing a tracker on someone else’s car or accessing their accounts turns a victim into a suspect and taints the file. And do not answer. Any reply, even a hostile one, can be used to argue that contact was mutual and that the conduct was neither unwanted nor systematic. Route contact through your lawyer and keep the log running.

What if you are accused of stalking?

A report for belaging does not mean a conviction will follow. The prosecution has to prove the full pattern, the invasion of private life and the aim behind it, and it can only start the case at all if a valid complaint was filed in time.

Common defences are that the contacts were too few or too scattered to be systematic, that the required aim is absent because the messages concerned an existing legal or family matter, or that the case is in fact an escalated conflict in which both sides made contact. Our criminal law guides explain how a Dutch criminal case proceeds from the first police interview onwards.

What should you check as a victim?

The three-month complaint deadline of article 66 Sr runs from the day you became aware of the offence, so act on these points now.

• Have you started one chronological log with the date, time, place and witnesses of every incident?
• Did you tell the police explicitly that you file a complaint (klacht) and ask for prosecution, and do you have the report number?
• Have you stopped answering, so that the contact cannot be presented as mutual?
• Have you informed your employer and your children’s school, so that the stalker cannot use them as a channel?
• Do you need a civil contact ban with a penalty payment alongside the criminal route?

What should you check if you are accused?

A breach of a behavioural instruction under article 509hh Sv harms your position more than the original allegation. Do not explain yourself to the other party or to the police without advice.

• Was a valid complaint filed within three months?
• How many contacts were there, over what period, and who initiated them?
• Was there a legitimate reason for contact, such as a shared child, a business dispute or jointly owned property?
• Have you kept the messages that show who started each contact?
• Are you complying with every condition imposed on you, including no indirect contact through friends or family?

What can we do for you with stalking?

Our criminal lawyers act for victims and for people accused of belaging.

• We help you file the complaint correctly and within the three-month deadline.
• We structure your log and evidence so that the pattern is visible to the police and the court.
• We apply in summary proceedings for a contact ban and an area ban, backed by a penalty payment.
• We review the file for a suspect and test whether the conduct was systematic and had the required aim.
• We contest a behavioural instruction before the district court.

Summary

• Stalking (belaging) is a criminal offence under article 285b Sr, with a maximum of three years’ imprisonment or a fourth-category fine.
• The conduct must be unlawful, systematic and intentional, and aimed at forcing the victim or instilling fear.
• Prosecution requires a formal complaint, filed within three months (article 66 Sr); a complaint can only be withdrawn within eight days (article 67 Sr).
• Protection is available through a behavioural instruction (article 509hh Sv), court conditions, a temporary domestic exclusion order, or a civil contact ban with a penalty payment.
• A detailed chronological log is the core of the evidence, for victims and for a defence alike.

Frequently asked questions