Posted on 07/11/2005 2:49:11 PM PDT by Wiz
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - The man accused of killing Dutch film producer Theo van Gogh quoted Arabic prayers at judges as his trial began Monday and walked out of court holding a Quran above his head.
Mohammed Bouyeri, the only suspect on trial for Van Gogh's killing, refused to answer questions about his possible motivation and said he has no plans to fight the charges.
Prosecutors say Bouyeri, of Moroccan origin, attacked Van Gogh on an Amsterdam street on Nov. 2, shooting him several times and then going on a rampage that targeted police officers. Bouyeri, 27, could face life imprisonment if convicted of terrorism, murder, attempted murder and impeding democracy by threatening members of parliament.
The killing was seen by some as an act of terrorism because Van Gogh was a prominent critic of Muslim fundamentalism. The killer left a five-page note pinned to the corpse with a knife, filled with religious ramblings and threatening more attacks.
He was arrested after being shot in the leg. Prosecutors say he is tied to the crime by witnesses, ballistics and DNA analysis.
Bouyeri confirmed his identity for the three-judge bench, but his lawyer, Peter Plasman, has said his client doesn't recognize the court's authority.
"My client wants no defense by him, nor on his behalf, and that's a very thoroughly considered decision," Plasman said. "This is probably the last thing I'll be saying at this trial."
Silent through most of the proceedings, Bouyeri said one phrase in Arabic when asked by judges to explain why he seemed to hate the Western society that gave his parents work and asylum.
Bouyeri answered: "I pray that God protect me that I should ever think differently than I do now."
Reading from police recordings, judges said Bouyeri laughed and told his younger brother, Hassan: "I knew what I was doing, and I succeeded."
"I swear to God, if there were a death penalty, I would be begging for it," he was quoted by the judges as having said.
The day's main witness was Rudolph Peters, a professor of Islamic Culture at the University of Amsterdam, who said Bouyeri's writings showed he became radical more than 18 months before the killing.
Bouyeri, allegedly a member of a terrorist cell known as the Hofstad Network, is said to have attended private prayer sessions with a Syrian spiritual leader, Redouan al-Issar, who disappeared shortly before the Van Gogh murder.
Twelve other suspected group members are awaiting trial on separate terrorism charges.
"My conclusion is that Mr. Bouyeri saw himself as an instrument of God," when he allegedly carried out the killing, Peters said.
Van Gogh's mother and sister briefly addressed the court, but the defendant avoided eye contact, only looking up briefly when they took the stand.
"The brutal murder left a gaping hole in our family, a hole that will never be filled," his sister, Josien van Gogh, said in a quavering voice. "I hope that Mohammed B. gets the heaviest possible punishment. But on Nov. 2, we were already given a life sentence."
Van Gogh, a distant relative of the artist Vincent Van Gogh, was apparently targeted because he offended Muslims with his 2004 short film "Submission." The killing set off a wave of attacks on mosques and Islamic buildings and a handful of retaliatory attacks on Christian churches in a country once known for its tolerance.
ping
The Left would say that Van Gogh was killed because we're in Iraq.
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He was raised and educated through college in Holland. His parents are from Morocco. Bouyeri is symbolic of the European born muslim, an outsider by choice and imbued with a hatred of the world that fed him at the public trough from day one. Something scarier? His nationality allows him to board any plane to the US without seeking a visa.
I think they forgot about the part of the islamoanimal almost cutting Van Gogh's head off.
I guess they wanted to spare society the gory details.
Death penalty is too good for people like this. Drawn and quartered would be a good start.
If convicted (and thats a big IF), this animal will be walking the streets of Eurabia withing 5 years.
This trash is telling the world what sort of crimes it will commit against the western world and we sit and accuse each other of being insensitive to their needs. We need to introduce the lot of them to Allah and the sooner the better
"The killing was seen by some as an act of terrorism because Van Gogh was a prominent critic of Muslim fundamentalism. The killer left a five-page note pinned to the corpse with a knife, filled with religious ramblings and threatening more attacks."
Seen by some as an act of terrorism? It was only seen by some as NOT an act of terrorism. Any sane person knew it was terror.
Pinned? One uses a pin when something is pinned. And normally, when something is pinned to the chest, one assumes it's pinned to a shirt, blouse or jacket. In this case, the manifesto was knifed to Van Gogh's body. And why say corpse instead of body? When to minimize the depravity. I wonder if Toby Sterling minimizes Abu Ghraib or Gitmo or whatever other chance he had to puff up his anti-Americanism.
-What I did was Holy and Righteous.
-Kaffirs have no legal authority over any Muslim.
-I can commit Jihad against a Kaffir.
-I'd do it again, since I'm not wrong in any capacity.
-Screw you!
The Dutch are too nice. If he pulled this crap in Texas we would kill him.
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