Amsterdam abuse suspect writes 900 handwritten pages in custody
The text emerged at a preliminary hearing on Thursday in the case of Jan B. (67) from Almere, a suspect in a sex abuse case involving at least fourteen children.
B. wrote the 900 pages by hand in prison while held before trial. This became known at the fourth hearing in the case at the district court in Amsterdam on Thursday, where the content of the text was not discussed.
The court president indicated that not everything B. wrote is equally legible.
It was the fourth pro forma hearing (proformazitting) in the case, a preliminary session held before the case is heard on its merits.
B. is a suspect and has not been convicted. He is a former municipal councillor in Almere.
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pro-formazitting
A pro forma hearing is a short, preliminary session of a Dutch court, held before a criminal case is heard on its merits. At this session the court handles procedural matters, such as checking the case file, deciding on the next steps and setting dates for later hearings, without going into the substance of the charges. It matters because Dutch criminal cases often pass through several such sessions before the actual trial takes place.