A 25-year-old man has been found guilty by an Amsterdam judge for defacing the National Monument on Dam Square in August last year. During a pro-Palestinian demonstration, the man sprayed the text ‘Never again is now’ in red paint on the monument. Although his lawyer argued that this constitutes a protected form of freedom of expression, the judge rejected this argument. The judge stated that the monument does not represent a political ideology and that the man could have used other means, such as a banner. Nevertheless, the man was not given a sentence. The judge took into account that the man has already reimbursed the cleaning costs, that he was interrogated by the police for three hours, and that he acted out of personal trauma without the intention of damaging the monument.