In the Rotterdam+’case, the HACC has been unable to proceed to trial since April 2025 due to a motion to recuse the judge who conducted the preparatory hearing. However, the defense has not stopped there and continues to look for other ways to delay the proceedings. Defense lawyers filed a series of motions, the essence of which was to return the case to the beginning of preparatory proceedings. The court spent nearly the entire hearing considering these motions but ultimately rejected them.
The defense’s arguments essentially boiled down to the fact that the composition of the court had changed before the trial on the merits began, and therefore, in their view, the preparatory hearing had to start over.
One of the defense lawyers filed a rather unusual motion concerning the schedule set by the judge, calling it “Stakhanovite.” In the motion, he requested that the court not allow an “overly hasty consideration of the case,” claiming it would negatively affect the objectivity of the trial and could render it superficial. In his view, scheduling three hearings per week did not allow sufficient time for proper preparation.
The judge explained that scheduling three hearings in one week was due to a break of more than two weeks, and that later there would be only one hearing per week. She also said she would wait for the parties’ suggestions on an optimal schedule, as she plans to set it through the end of the year.
Moreover, when the defense lawyer began to speak, it turned out that one of the defendants whose interests he represents was absent. The lawyer said his client could no longer attend and believed the motion could be considered in his absence. The judge responded that the hearing would be concluded only with all participants present. As a result, the hearing was postponed once again.
It should be noted that even before the trial began, this case was marked by numerous delays and procedural hurdles. This spring marked eight years since the start of the investigation. Preparatory proceedings in court began in March 2023 and lasted more than two years — all these problems are described in our material on the HACC Decided platform. Now the defense is again trying to return the case to the beginning, effectively nullifying the progress made over the past two and a half years.