AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: The extortion trial of an alleged Amsterdam underworld figure was moved to a new venue Monday after explosions damaged the top-security court building where the case had been due to start. Security shutters were damaged and windows smashed in the explosions at 3 a.m. (0200 GMT) but there were no injuries, according to a police statement.
"Everything is being done to ensure today's case can go ahead," the statement said. The cause of the explosions was being investigated but there were no immediate arrests. Justice officials said later that the case would be moved — for Monday at least — to a court room at another building in Amsterdam. By early afternoon, the case still had not started. The decision was based on "security concerns," said court spokeswoman Jacqueline Dubois.
Willem Holleeder — previously convicted in the 1983 kidnapping of beer tycoon Freddy Heineken — is accused of extorting money from four businessmen in Amsterdam. He denies the charges.
"What has happened is annoying for him, because he just wants to get on with his case," Holleeder's attorney, Jan-Hein Kuijpers told the national broadcaster's Radio 1. "Nobody wants this kind of thing. I don't know in whose interest it is to damage the building."
The court room hit by Monday's explosions was built on an industrial zone in eastern Amsterdam in the late 1990s and has hosted several high-profile organized-crime and terror trials, including that of the Islamic extremist who murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh.
The Associated Press
Published: April 2, 2007
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