Wednesday morning began with a thorough treatment of the Avestruz (Ostrich) case in the Court of Appeal. There are seven accused, but the presence of two of them was not necessary today, namely Curt Harms and Pieter Susebeek, because the content of their case was not brought forward.
From 9:00 AM until 5:41 PM, with a short break in between, the three judges were very focused in reviewing the statements of Damari and Deshaun, in which the involved defendants were: Leoncita Arends, Benny Sevinger, Gaby Werleman, Ninosca Nuñez, and Carlo Mansur. The latter, like in the First Instance, preferred not to answer questions and stick to what he had already declared.
Two aspects highlighted today were the fact that the Prosecutor General adapted the citation in some cases, which naturally the defense did not agree with. However, the President of the Court ultimately decided to allow the adaptation. This is because the new Penal Code, which came into effect on April 1st, opens up this possibility.
In the afternoon hours,the focus was on the contradicting statements regarding an envelope. This is the statement that the Public Prosecutor’s Office used to accuse the former official of bribery. Both Arends and Sevinger were questioned extensively and attempts were made to find where they may have erred in their statements. In the end, there remained doubt about the color of the famous envelope. The statements on this point vary.
Also, the discrepancy regarding the envelope’s content. Witness Roga stated that it was filled with money, around 200,000 florins, while Sevinger and his wife, as well as Arends, said it was filled with lottery tickets.
The afternoon ended with the message that treatment will continue Thursday morning with the other pending cases.
