The trial of 11 people accused of forcing dozens of under-age girls from Nigeria into prostitution was opened and then formally postponed by judges in Zwolle on Tuesday.

Lawyers for the defendants said the trial should be halted because the investigation is still ongoing. The prosecution had been ‘too enthusiastic’, defence laywers said in Trouw.
In particular, defence lawyers want to question a new key witness who has turned up in Italy, Trouw reported.
The 11 on trial are among 20 arrested in October 2007 in an investigation which stretched across Europe. At the time police said the suspects used voodoo to gain a hold over the girls before smuggling them to the Netherlands to claim refugee status.
Only the two main suspects are still in custody and at least two of the others have disappeared, the Volkskrant said.
For an NRC background article on this case, click here