Conspiracy theorist Micha Kat to remain in pre-trial detention for now

Conspiracy theorist Micha Kat will not be released from jail for the time being, despite a fervent argument presented at the courthouse in The Hague. The court ruled against releasing Kat during a tumultuous preparatory session where Kat had to be ushered away from the courtroom floor several times. He was nearly removed from the room, and he threatened to challenge the court. This was apparently after a misunderstanding, and he quickly calmed down, partly thanks to the help of his attorney.

Kat was arrested in Northern Ireland in the middle of last year, and unsuccessfully contested his extradition to the Netherlands. He now wants to be allowed to leave his jail cell, but the court said there were enough serious objections to detain Kat, now 59 years old, at least until the next preliminary hearing in February. The case should be dealt with substantively with a trial at the end of March.

Kat, a former journalist, is suspected of incitement against the judiciary, incitement against the municipality of Bodegraven, calling on people to kidnap and threaten the RIVM director Jaap van Dissel, and incitement against the newspaper AD, among other crimes. Kat and his lawyer said the statements which prompted the accusations were made from a journalistic point of view, and thus were not in violation of the law. They want an expert in the field to testify about the additional space afforded to journalists regarding controversial speech, but the judge did not see the necessity for an expert to testify. The request was denied.

Kat suspects that the Public Prosecution Service (OM) is targeting him, he told the judge several times during the hearing. He said he fears his voice has been drowned out, and that the “hysteria” of the OM has led to cases being manufactured against him. "I am not a danger to the State and not a conspiracy theorist,” he emphasized several times in a loud voice.

Via the online platform Red Pill Journal, Kat, together with fellow conspiracy theorists Wouter Raatgever and Joost Knevel, spread unsubstantiated stories about networks of alleged satanic pedophiles and claims of ritualistic child murders in Bodegraven. As a result of the internet publications, dozens of conspiracy theorists visited a cemetery in Bodegraven early last year to lay flowers on children's graves.

Raatgever and Knevel have already been convicted for their roles. In another procedure, the court already ruled that the three conspiracy theorists must pay compensation of more than 215,000 euros to the municipality of Bodegraven-Reeuwijk.