Former alderman Jan Benedictus of the municipality of Skarsterlân refused to speak Dutch in the court in Zwolle on Thursday. The judge did not accept his Frisian promise, so the politician was allowed to leave again.
The judge erred in this, it can be concluded on the site of the courts in the Netherlands . In the case of ‘all courts in the Netherlands’, someone may pronounce the legally prescribed words in Dutch in the ‘corresponding words in the Frisian language’.
Apart from the oath and affirmation, Frisians may speak Frisian in the courts in Groningen, Leeuwarden and Assen and the Court of Appeal of Arnhem-Leeuwarden. Outside that, it is only allowed if it is ‘plausible that someone cannot express themselves sufficiently in Dutch’.
What do you think? Should everyone in Dutch courts speak Dutch? Or is the Frisian exceptional position justified? Let us know and participate in the statement of the day.