Preparing for court
a.r.s., December 5, 1995

And again, another follow-up.

The media are getting more and more interested. On Saturday, November 25, the newspaper "Het Parool" devoted a full page to the case. Journalist Addie Schulte interviewed both CoS-spokeswoman Julia Rijnvis and me, and wrote a thorough article on the upcoming court case. Julia Rijnvis was not pleased.

Last Sunday (December 3), I was a guest in RUR, a very popular weekly semi-live talkshow. I was the first of the three guests and was invited to talk about the upcoming court case. All in all, I got to talk about 15 minutes - not all about Scientology, but enough. One of the other guest, writer Tim Krabbe, publicly applauded the courage of anybody who dared oppose CoS; the other guest, news anchorwoman Loretta Schrijver, later phoned me to tell they would probably cover the court session in their news program.

Next week a big magazine (devoted to a combination of human interest, sports and politics) will publish a huge article on Scientology; and Hollands biggest news magazine will publish a part of my defense. Various television programs have also expressed their interest in the court case.

On Monday, December 11, just three days before the court session, there is a big meeting in Amsterdam, entitled 'Never Defend, Always Attack' (yeah, we borrowed that one for the occasion). Various people involved will speak out: Oussama Cherribi, the member of parliament who had a Fishman-homepage will talk about the importance of the protest; Felipe Rodriquez, director of XS4ALL, will explain about the research he did into CoS; I will read parts of my defense.
Various actors and actresses will be invited to read parts from other people's Affidavits and exerpts of books, in order to illustrate the ways in which CoS tries to silence its critics.
Also, the defend fund will be presented: some people have set up a foundation which will raise money for the defense.
The main guest of the evening will be... STEVEN FISHMAN himself. Felipe and I have invited him to talk about his experiences in Scientology and his reasons for submitting part of the OT's in his court case. He will spend several days in Amsterdam and already various journalists have stated that they'd love to interview him. He will be attending the court session as well. Measures have been taken to guard his personal safety. Steven is delighted to know that we will meet soon, and the people involved in the Dutch Protest are most honoured by his visit.

The court session will be on Thursday, December 14th. It is mainly paperwork. Both sides have already presented the main parts of their argument to the judge in written form. At the court session, both sides will attempt to summarize their main points; the judge may want to ask some of those involved to answer a few quesions, but that seldom occurs.
After both lawyers have presented their case, the court will retreat. Judgement is expected in two or three weeks following the session.
It is already apparent that many people want to be present at the session: participants, supporters, journalists, civil servants, people from the Ministry of Juridical Affairs, and of course CoS-members. The largest room in the court has been reserved for the case, but we expect it to be crammed anyway.

groet,
Karin Spaink

Copyright Karin Spaink.
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