Demagogue

Amidst the hoopla over the London bombings, the anticlimactic trial in the Theo van Gogh murder began here in Amsterdam. I say "anticlimactic" because the defendant, Mohammed B., seems intent on spoiling everyone's fun by not putting up a fight. His appointed lawyer has even tried to get out of the case because his client has instructed him not to do anything.

As expected, B. refused to contribute to the hearing and began by turning his back to the judges. He only broke his silence to confirm that he did not wish to add anything to statements made on his behalf by his lawyer, Peter Plasman.

Plasman had already indicated his client did not wish to defend himself against the charges of murdering Van Gogh and shooting at police....

The judges read passages from comments made to police and bugged telephone conversations he had with acquaintances. B. was seen to smile on several occasions during the hearing.

B. indicated in these comments that he had wanted to be killed for murdering Van Gogh. "I swear to God if they had the death penalty, I would have begged for it. Idiots," he told his brother Hassan during a telephone call on 19 January this year.

As far as I can tell, a lot of the Dutch public would be quite happy to reinstate the death penalty for Mohammed's benefit.

B. was wounded in the leg during a gunbattle with police shortly after he murdered Van Gogh. As he was being brought under guard to hospital, officers told B. he was lucky he had not been shot dead. "That was in fact the intention," B. answered.