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On Thursday, the District Court of Northern Netherlands in Leeuwarden held the first substantive hearing in the civil case in which seven Dutch citizens are suing Bill Gates, Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla, former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and the Dutch State, alleging they were misled into taking COVID-19 vaccinations that harmed them. The hearing, which the court livestreamed because of the public interest, came more than three years after the case was filed in July 2023.
The claimants say the Dutch state, government officials and the other defendants misled them into receiving COVID-19 vaccinations and should be held personally liable for damages. Their lawyer, Peter Stassen, argued that the public was unlawfully deceived about the safety and effectiveness of the injections. In the claimants' filings, the COVID-19 response is described as a "Great Reset" project rather than a public health response, and the injections as a biological weapon — or as indistinguishable from one. Two of the original seven claimants have died while the case awaited its hearing, according to accounts of Thursday's proceedings. Days before the hearing, the court admitted the sworn video testimony of the claimants' expert witnesses — including Sasha Latypova, Dr. Mike Yeadon, Catherine Austin Fitts and Dr. Joseph Sansone — after refusing it three times.
Lawyers for the defendants denied the claims. In court they told the judges: "Covid-19 exists. There has been a pandemic. The vaccines are safe and effective," and asked the court to throw the case out. They also challenged the qualifications of the claimants' expert witnesses. None of the 17 defendants appeared in person at Thursday's hearing; some who were expected to join online cancelled at the last minute.
The case was filed on July 14, 2023. Gates, who lives in the United States, challenged whether the Dutch court had jurisdiction over him; on October 16, 2024, the court rejected that challenge and ordered him to pay the claimants' legal costs tied to the motion. The case is a civil lawsuit, not a criminal one — no one faces prison — and the defendants have denied the allegations in their court filings. The court has not ruled on whether the claims of deception or vaccine-related harm are valid.
No decision is expected yet. The judges may order a further evidence stage before ruling, and the court is aiming for a decision between December 9 and the end of February.