Eritrea: Professor wins Dutch court appeal over allegation of infiltration of immigration service

2017-12-14 19:45:59 Written by  Martin Plaut Published in English Articles Read 2580 times

Africa, Eritrea, Horn of Africa

 

(translated from Dutch, please find the original here)

In 2015, Dutch Professor Mirjam van Reisen (Tilburg University, Leiden University) was interviewed by Dutch radio station BNR nieuwsradio about the news that people with ties to the Eritrean regime were employed as interpreters at the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND). In response to her statements in this interview, the (by now former) chair of the YPFDJ in the Netherlands, the youth department of the Eritrean regime in the Netherlands, started a court case (interim injunction proceedings) against Van Reisen. She won the proceedings, after which an appeal was started. The court has decided this week to dismiss the case and has ruled that the judge of the interim injuction proceedings had correctly dismissed all claims against Van Reisen.

The court case was about the following. Van Reisen commented in the interview about two interpreters, brother and sister, of the then-chair of the YPFDJ Netherlands, Mr. Bahlbi: “they are people that have been in the Netherlands for a long time, of whom the brother of the two concerned is the center of the Eritrean intelligence of which the heart is in the Netherlands, and that is known information and a fact.

The Court investigated whether there was enough factual support for this statement and judges that this is the case:

The Court is of the opinion that the assertations of Van Reisen are support to such an extent that the facts presented contain the necessary indications that the YPFDJ functions in part as a component in the intelligence network of the government of Eritrea (…)

Bahlbi [has been] chair of the YPFDJ Netherlands for several years and still [was] at the time of the interview. As chair, he can be considered as the center of the YPFDJ in the Netherlands in any case, while furthermore, concrete indications exist that this organisation plays a role in the intelligence network of Eritrea. Bahlbi has therefore made himself vulnerable to accusations of involvement with the intelligence network, by becoming chair of the YPFDJ Netherlands and by his presence at yearly conferences and other meetings of that YPFDJ, whereby in addition it can be assumed that he was in touch with representatives of the government of Eritrea.

Besides this, the Court also takes into account that the statements of Van Reisen came as a response to an article on Oneworld.nl about the interpreters. The Court is of the opinion that in this article, an “important wrongdoing that affects the society is coveredand because of this, Van Reisen has the right to “a large freedom to express herself about this in the interview in response to the article.

Another complaint was issued with regard to a lack of right of defence (audi alteram partem). On this subject, the Court rules that Van Reisen “cannot be blamed for violating the principle of right of defence because it was BNR Nieuwsradio that chose to not let Bahlbi speak as well.

Van Reisen was supported in the appeal by lawyers Christien Wildeman and Emiel Jurjens.

Source=https://martinplaut.wordpress.com/2017/12/14/eritrea-professor-wins-dutch-court-appeal-over-allegation-of-infiltration-of-immigration-service/

Last modified on Thursday, 14 December 2017 20:49

Harnnet Media - ሓርነት ሚድያ

EPDP Magazines