The kidnapping of the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Ruttewas planned by the group that allegedly murdered journalists in the Netherlands in 2021, a witness in the case revealed.

The protected witness, known to Dutch prosecutors only as “5089”said the group was so powerful that “they even want to kidnap the prime minister,” a spokesman for the Dutch public prosecutor’s office in Amsterdam told CNN.

Peter de Vries, an award-winning Dutch journalist, was murdered on a busy street in the center of Amsterdam in July 2021, in a case that shocked the Netherlands. The journalist was shot shortly after leaving the RTL TV studios, where he often appeared as a special police analyst. He died in hospital nine days later.

De Vries had become known for his investigations that have brought to light crimes of the Dutch underworld.

The Amsterdam-based newspaper Het Parool was the first to publish this specific testimony about a possible threat to outgoing Prime Minister Rutte.

The witness learned the information from a 28-year-old known as “Krystian M,” who is suspected of coordinating the murderous attack against de Vries and guiding the other attackers, the prosecutor’s office said.

The protected witness testified to the specific information during questioning by the investigator in December 2022, according to the prosecutor’s office.