Recent Press Cases Kennedy Van der Laan
During the past period a number of judgments have been
rendered in press cases in which one of the parties was
successfully represented by attorneys of Kennedy Van der
Laan.
Otto Volgenant has represented national
newspaper Het Parool in preliminary relief proceedings regarding
a column by Adriaan Jaeggi. In the column, which was primarily
about magazine HP/De Tijd, Edwin de Roy van Zuydewijn was -in
passing- called an 'evidently sick liar'. On 15 May 2008
the Court ruled, in line with earlier case law, that the author
of a column has a great extent of freedom and that the column
was not unlawful. Please click
here for the judgment (in Dutch).
Jens van den Brink has represented Het
Parool in preliminary relief proceedings as a result of a number
of publications on the activities of the Barazani family,
whereby the family was called, amongst other things,
'Israeli mafia'. On 7 August 2008 the Court ruled that
the publications are not unlawful. The fact that the family had
actually been involved in illegalities and that in everyday
language the word 'mafia' is increasingly used with a
figurative meaning played a part here. Please click
here for the judgment (in Dutch).
In other preliminary relief proceedings about the freedom of
speech, the Court of Amsterdam ruled that the exposition
"Palestine 1948, Remembering a past homeland" in the
Tropenmuseum "is not unlawful in any respect" towards the
claimant, nor toward other Dutch citizens of Jewish descent. The
claimant has appealed against this judgment. The Tropical Institute
was represented by Eberhard van der Laan. Please click
here for the judgment (in Dutch).