Mr Brian Meehan, the Dublin man facing a charge of murdering the journalist Veronica Guerin, has resolved to resist efforts to extradite him to Ireland from the Netherlands. An examining magistrate in Amsterdam was told yesterday that Mr Meehan (32) would contest the extradition.
At a closed hearing in a top-security courtroom yesterday, Mr Justice van Dyjk determined that Mr Meehan should stay in custody while extradition proceedings got under way.
Mr Meehan, who will face up to 18 other charges for serious crimes if returned to Dublin, was handed over to the Dutch state prosecutor's office yesterday by the Amsterdam police. They had arrested him and an associate, Mr John Traynor, in the city last week. Mr Traynor was later released.
There was tight security yesterday at the Department of Justice courts building on the city's southern outskirts. Escorted by armed police, Mr Meehan was taken from the Biljmer prison to the cluster of office blocks which make up the courts complex on the Parnassus Weg.
The van entered the complex through a rear gate and headed directly down a tunnel which leads into a basement of cells and adjacent courtrooms.
Mr Meehan was then brought from his cell into the windowless courtroom for the in camera hearing. Court officials said an interpreter was on hand while an Amsterdam lawyer, Mr Alexander van der Waal, was appointed to represent Mr Meehan.
Lawyers for the state prosecutor's office advised the magistrate that the arrest and detention of Mr Meehan were in order. Mr Justice van Dyjk told Mr Meehan that an extradition procedure could be concluded quickly if he agreed to be returned to Dublin. But the hearing was advised that Mr Meehan would contest the case.
The magistrate said Mr Meehan should be held in custody for a further 16 days.
Dutch law allows detention of 20 days from the date of arrest before a trial date must be set.
The question of bail did not arise during the half-hour hearing, officials said.
If a later hearing at the end of the detention period sets a trial date, it is to be held in public before a non-jury court, with a panel of three judges sitting.
If the court agrees to extradition, it will forward its judgment to the Dutch Justice Minister, Mrs Sorg Drajer, who makes the final decision.