Netherlands

Participants:
Paul Poustochkine - Vice president in the criminal court The Hague
Karien Schaffels - Judge in the criminal court The Hague
René Elkerbout - Vice president in the criminal court The Hague
Simon Minks - Prosecutor at the Appeals Court The Hague
Eveline Smilde - Schölvinck - Trainee judge
M. de Klerk - Lawyer
Maarten van de Weerd - Lawyer

Case:
There has been a major fire in a detention centre. Foreigners, whose presence on Dutch soil is unlawful, are detained there pending their removal from The Netherlands. Eleven people died in that fire.
Soon after this event, posters went on public display in town. They show the centre behind barbed wire and the picture is accompanied by the following text:
"Rita's Travel Agency
Arrests Deportations Cremations
Competent until the bitter end"
(Rita Verdonk was the Dutch minister for Immigration and Integration and responsible for the detention centre.)
The defendant held up the poster in front of a camera belonging to the film crew from the local broadcasting organisation. Subsequently, shots of the poster were broadcast on several occasions. A complaint for defamation has been filed on behalf of the minister responsible for the centre.
It is the Crown's submission that the statement is an insult to the person who is responsible for the government's immigration policy. The defendant will argue that the poster merely expresses her dissatisfaction with the allegedly inhuman immigration policy and she will contend that she has used her freedom of expression and is therefore not guilty of any criminal offence.