Mohammed B. to appear in court

12 April 2005

AMSTERDAM — The Muslim man accused of killing filmmaker Theo van Gogh last year will appear in Amsterdam Court for a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday.

Lawyer Peter Plasman had earlier said that his client, Mohammed B., would not appear in court for this procedural sitting.

The 27-year-old Dutch-Moroccan did not appear in court during the first preliminary hearing at the end of January.

But B. — who is being detained in the judiciary’s psychiatric observation clinic, the Pieter Baan Centre in Utrecht — will issue a statement to the court on Wednesday, newspaper ‘De Telegraaf’ reported on Tuesday.

Van Gogh, 47, was stabbed and shot on an Amsterdam street on 2 November. The killer left a note with a knife plunged into his body warning that Liberal VVD MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali was next.

Hirsi Ali collaborated on the film ‘Submission’ with Van Gogh shortly before his death. The film was critical of domestic abuse in the Islamic faith and is considered to have been a prime factor behind Van Gogh’s death.

B. said via a statement his lawyer presented to the court at the preliminary hearing in January that he was prepared to take responsibility for his actions, apparently a veiled confession of his guilt.

A suspected Islamic militant, B. is alleged to hold links with the Hofstadgroep, a suspected terror network. A dozen young men are accused of membership of the group and plotting the deaths of high-profile Dutch politicians.

Subject: Dutch news