None of the defence lawyers are objecting to a severance of the trial any more, and none of them are planning to introduce new applications.
What happens next depends on the pending application by one defendant to have the Indian crew of the dhow called as witnesses. The application has been going for a while and was last left with the judge declaring it too difficult to track the witnesses down, because – although a street name is known – the street was too long to find someone. Today, the judge said that the court had tried to establish contact with the port authority of the port where the dhow was registered, but that the contact person no longer worked their and their offices had moved. Also the court has received an email from the German federal police representation in India, stating that they have passed the request to find the witnesses on to the local police and that they expect to hear back from them by tomorrow. That will be the basis of the decision whether to hear these witnesses and therefore to split the trial. The judge indicated that, should the case get severed, there could be a number of different options.
This decision will be announced at the next court date on Monday, 20 February, 8 am.
