Judges have rejected a request by the family of Mitch Henriquez to delay the trial of two police officers implicated in his death.

Relatives of the 42-year-old Aruban tourist have asked the court of appeal to rule that all five officers who took part in his arrest should stand trial together. Police have disciplined all five but the public prosecution service decided last year to bring criminal proceedings against just two of them.

The two officers, who are accused of assaulting Henriquez with fatal consequences, appeared on Monday at a procedural hearing at the high-security court complex at Schiphol. They sat behind screens to protect their identities.

The court decided that the trial should go ahead in April as scheduled, even though the appeal court is not due to hear the family’s case until March.

Henriquez died in hospital the day after being arrested at the Night in the Park festival in The Hague in June 2015. He had pinned to the ground in a choke hold by five officers and dragged unconscious into a police van. Police said he had shouted out that he was carrying a gun. The incident sparked several days of unrest and rioting in the city’s Schilderswijk district.

An internal investigation identified a string of errors made by the team that arrested Henriquez, such taking him to hospital in the van rather than waiting for an ambulance. The report also said pepper spray had been rubbed in his face and criticised the officer in charge for not showing leadership.

All five officers were disciplined following an inquiry but none was dismissed from the police force. Two were provisionally suspended from duty and banned from carrying guns for a year.