The Poch pilot wants to hear the former ministers and claims 5 million euros of compensation

The former Transavia pilot, Julio Poch (66 years old), wants to hear five former Dutch ministers at a preliminary hearing before the court in The Hague about their role in his possible extradition to the # 39; Argentina.

Poch wants former Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende and Justice Ministers Ernst Hirsch Ballin and Ivo Opstelten, as well as Foreign Ministers Maxime Verhagen and Uri Rosenthal, to support a complaint against the government. Dutch State. According to the pilot, who was unanimously acquitted last year by a Buenos Aires court of suspicion that he allegedly carried out so-called "death thefts" for the Argentine junta in the late 1970s, he would have been held in custody for 3000 days because of illegal acts of the Dutch authorities.

The lawyers Carry Knoops-Hamburger and Geert-Jan Knoops claim that the claim of their client Poch is estimated at about 5 million euros. This is a compensation for almost eight years wrongly spent by Poch in Argentine prisons. In addition, councilors seek compensation for, among other things, damage to reputation.

According to the lawyers, there is sufficient evidence that the ministers interfered in the case that eventually led to the Argentine Poch, which also had Dutch nationality since 1995, via Spain. extradited to Argentina by a trick. On his last flight before his retirement, on September 22, 2009, Poch was arrested at the Valencia airport at the request of Argentine justice. The Netherlands had provided this information to Argentina. "Two days after his arrest, Minister Hirsch Ballin stated that Transavia had deliberately not been informed of the imminent arrest of his pilot, which means that the firm intervened in the criminal case." , says Geert-Jan Knoops

Julio Poch is dissatisfied with the operation of the Dutch authorities in his case. "They've found me a war criminal in advance." Poch states that it is remarkable that Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus (Justice and Security, CDA) wrote this week in a letter to the House that the prosecutor had partially reimbursed the costs of the lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld. She welcomed former Poch colleagues who accused her

Financial assistance

Zegveld received 20,000 euros, according to her own statements. Knoops' lawyers have unsuccessfully sought for years the reimbursement of legal aid. "The fact that the prosecution witnesses received financial assistance and not the suspect proves the absolute bias of the Netherlands," said Geert-Jan Knoops. In January of next year, Knoops has asked The Hague Court, in a separate proceeding, to refund 2.5 tons of attorney fees.

The criminal case against Poch was opened after the dinner of some Dutch colleagues in 2003 during a dinner in Bali. he had participated in the so-called vuelos de la muerte (robberies to death). The Argentine court ruled last year that the witnesses were probably guilty of perjury.

See also: Poch wants to return home soon

Poch's lawyers also want to hear Michiel Meijer, former president and CEO of Transavia. Meijer met with Attorney General Guus Schram in 2009. Meijer says he understood from Schram that the Netherlands had cooperated in the lawsuit against Poch, so that Argentine judge Jorge Zorreguieta, secretary of state at the junta and father of Queen Máxima, is not touched.