The Dublin criminal, George Mitchell, is appealing against the severity of a 30-month prison sentence he received in the Netherlands earlier this month. However, the prosecutor in the case is also appealing against the sentence, demanding that it be increased by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal.
Mitchell, nicknamed "the Penguin", was jailed for masterminding a computer supplies robbery from an Irish lorry in the Netherlands in March.
Although sentenced to 30 months in jail, he would have been due for release after serving 14 months as a third of all jail terms are remitted for good behaviour. Time already spent in custody is also deducted.
Mitchell's lawyer, Mr Robert Van der Velde, said yesterday: "My client believed he was wrongly convicted."
He said should the court decide in Mitchell's favour, he could then demand £50 a day compensation for unfair imprisonment from the date he was taken into custody in March.
At his trial, Mitchell (47), with an address at Woodfarm Acres, Palmerstown, Co Dublin, was described as the criminal mastermind behind a plot to steal the £5 million consignment from a lorry en route from the Co Kildare plant of Hewlett Packard to a Dutch customer.
At his trial, Mitchell described himself as a respectable director of an import-export business based in the Netherlands. He also claimed he had been set up by the Garda.
However, judges ruled that the Irish operation leading to his arrest, and that of the lorry driver, was legal. They ruled that Mitchell was the ringleader in the plan to involve the truck driver, Thomas Masssey, who is serving an 18month sentence for his part in the robbery.
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for Haarlem District Court, where Mitchell was sentenced on September 11th, confirmed that he had appealed his conviction and "the severity of the sentence" to the Amsterdam Court of Appeal.
The public prosecutor has submitted a counter-appeal calling for the sentence to be increased.
The case is not expected to be heard before the New Year.