Court rulings & orders · On the timeline
Letter
7 May 2026
7 May 2026
C/17/190788 · District Court of the Northern Netherlands, Leeuwarden
Court — experts may sit in a side room; livestream allowed
District Court (Leeuwarden)
Court decision · binding on the parties
In 30 seconds
The court's answer to the claimants' and the journalists' organisational requests. It set the experts' status at the hearing and announced a livestream.
Cheat sheet
- The five named experts may sit in the public gallery but have no special role in the proceedings.
- No interpreting for the public in the courtroom; experts may follow a livestream with their own interpreter in a separate room.
- The hearing may be briefly paused so the claimants' lawyer can consult the experts.
- The court will provide a livestream despite objections from Van Cann and Jansen, citing public interest and limited space.
- Parties could ask by 1 June for limits on who is seen or heard, or to take part online; lawyers must attend in person.
- Public attendance will be limited for capacity and safety reasons.
Key passages · underlined
These persons may, of course, take their seats in the public gallery, but have no procedural status other than that of the rest of the public.
The court is prepared to facilitate arrangements so that, should these individuals attend the oral hearing in person, they may follow the proceedings via a live stream with their interpreter in a separate room within the courthouse.
Van Cann and Jansen raised objections to this in advance, but the court considers that, given the expected high level of public interest in this case and the limited space in the courtroom, a live stream in some form is appropriate.
Every defendant denies the claims, and the court has not ruled on them. Allegations are the claimants' pleaded positions, quoted as theirs. This is analysis and commentary, not legal advice. Interest of Justice is not a party to the case.