A boy from Friesland has been convicted of preparing terrorist attacks on the Flemish Parliament in Brussels and a military air base north of Arnhem in 2024. The boy is a supporter of right-wing extremist ideology and says that he was afraid of immigration and losing his Frisian identity, RTL Nieuws reports.

The boy, who was 12 or 13 years old when he planned these attacks, set up a Telegram group in which he incited people to commit the terrorist attacks on his behalf. Among other things, he offered someone money to leave a bag containing a bomb at the Flemish Parliament building in Brussels.

The Noord-Nederland District Court ruled that the boy aimed to create chaos in order to unleash a race war and establish a “white ethnostate.” Why he wanted to target the parliament building and the Deleen military air base, and how this would assuage his identity fears, remains unclear.

The court sentenced the child to three months of suspended juvenile detention with a probation period of two years. The court called his right-wing extremist views extremely concerning, especially given his age, and also sentenced him to treatment at the National Extremist Support Center.