(Dutch News) The man accused of carrying out a terrorist attack on a commuter tram in Utrecht was removed from the courtroom on the first day of his trial for spitting at a defence lawyer.
Gökmen Tanis refused to answer questions and raised his middle finger to the judges several times as the hearing got under way at the district court in Utrecht. He has admitted shooting dead four people but the court will have to decide whether to convict him of murder or manslaughter and whether the offences were of a terrorist nature.
When defence lawyer André Seebregts, appointed by the court to represent Tanis after he refused to accept legal support, asked the judges to outline a psychiatric report slowly and in simple terms to the defendant, Tanis spat at him. The judges ordered him to be taken away to a side room where he followed the rest of the proceedings by video link.
