As regular readers will recall, last year’s prosecution of Geert Wilders in Amsterdam was terminated abruptly when Mr. Wilders’ lawyer revealed that one of the judges in the case had apparently attempted to tamper with a witness just before the trial began. The witness in question was Prof. Hans Jansen, one of the world’s foremost experts on Islam. Now that Mr. Wilders’ trial has reconvened before a new panel of judges, Prof. Jansen has been called to the witness stand to explain the sensational events at a dinner party last fall.
Many thanks to our Dutch correspondent H. Numan for this translation from PowNed:
DA Schalken did try to influence Hans Jansen
District attorney Tom Schalken of the Court of Amsterdam, during the much-discussed dinner hosted by Middle East expert Bertus Hendriks, clearly tried to influence Arabist Hans Jansen. During the dinner Schalken tried conversation repeatedly to direct the conversation to the trial of Geert Wilders.
Jansen this morning took the witness stand in the courtroom in Amsterdam to answer questions by Wilders’ lawyer Bram Moszkowicz. “I listened to it with growing revulsion,” said Jansen. The Arabist had to appear a few days after the dinner as expert witness in the case against Wilders. He attended the dinner at the invitation of Hendriks, who arranged it for people in influential positions.
Disqualification
In his own words, Jansen was shocked to meet Schalken during the dinner. The DA was co-writer of the court order of the Amsterdam court, which made the prosecution possible. According to Jansen, Schalken didn’t hesitate to show his contempt for Wilders. “I should realize very well that I disqualified myself by associating with Wilders. The actual sly wording I do not recall exactly. As an intellectual, I should have known better.” Jansen does not exclude the possibility Schalken carried the actual court order with him that evening. He insisted Jansen should read it. He grabbed some A-4 sized papers from his pocket. That may or may not have been the actual court order, Jansen wasn’t sure.
Later today Schalken and Hendriks will be heard as witnesses.
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