The Narrative on Trial: The Press Conference, 22 October 2026

Following the first substantive hearing before the District Court of the Northern Netherlands in Leeuwarden on 22 October 2026, plaintiffs, their attorney and expert witnesses met the press. Since July 2023, seven people who say they were injured by the COVID-19 injections have been suing 17 defendants – among them Bill Gates, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and the Dutch state. All case documents are available at thenetherlandscase.com.

The press conference is in English. Subtitles are available in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian – choose them directly below the video.

Summary: “We are putting the narrative on trial”

After the first substantive oral hearing, the plaintiffs and expert witnesses met the press on 22 October 2026. Their message: the judges must now engage with the evidence – and the case has long since become bigger than a single lawsuit.

It has been a long day when the group gathers in the evening in front of an audience and a livestream. Since July 2023, seven people who say their health was damaged by the COVID-19 vaccination have been suing 17 defendants in the Netherlands, among them Bill Gates, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and the Dutch state. Two of the plaintiffs have since died. On this day, after more than three years, the first oral hearing on the merits of the case took place before the District Court of the Northern Netherlands in Leeuwarden, lasting around five hours.

The press conference is hosted by Briton Fiona Rose Diamond, founder of “The Narrative on Trial”, who built the website thenetherlandscase.com and, in her own words, has been raising awareness of the case without pay since March. On the panel: attorney Peter W. H. Stassen, the expert witnesses Sasha Latypova and Dr Joseph Sansone, and plaintiff Reginald Dijkstra. Joining by video are Dr Michael Yeadon, formerly head of research at Pfizer, and financial expert Catherine Austin Fitts.

Right at the start, Fiona Rose Diamond explains what the case is – and what it is not: “It is a civil case, not a criminal case.” It is about compensation for physical and psychological harm. But the plaintiffs, she says, are not in it for the money; they want the truth to come out.

“They have stepped into my arena”

Attorney Peter W. H. Stassen sums up the core of the lawsuit: COVID-19 was “not a disease but a project”, carried out by a group pursuing its goals under names such as Agenda 2030. Under Dutch tort law, his clients are seeking not only damages but above all a ruling from the court that they were unlawfully misled and were vaccinated as a result.

Stassen calls it one of his biggest surprises that all the defendants appeared in court. He would have advised them to stay away. “Now they have stepped into the arena – and this arena is mine too.” In the courtroom the defendants stuck to their line that the vaccines were safe and effective. For Stassen they are the “executors” of the project.

In the courtroom he held up Klaus Schwab’s book “COVID-19: The Great Reset” and called it “Mein Kampf 2.0”. The judges, he reports, said nothing.

His central appeal to the court: the expert reports have not yet been seriously considered, and without them there can be no justice. Fiona Rose Diamond describes the road to this point as a hard-fought struggle. In November 2025 the court refused to hear the experts in person. Stassen then submitted a four-and-a-half-hour video plea featuring the experts, which was first rejected and, after two objections, partly admitted to the file. From the plaintiffs’ point of view, one thing has already been achieved: Bill Gates failed in his challenge to the jurisdiction of the Dutch court.

The experts: “You don’t have to be an expert”

Dr Michael Yeadon, by his own account for 17 years vice president and worldwide head of allergy and respiratory research at Pfizer, responds to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla’s claim in the statement of defence that he is not qualified. His first degree was in biochemistry and toxicology, Yeadon stresses – and Bourla is a veterinarian. He names three points that in his view show the products were not developed in good faith: a timeframe of under a year, which he says makes safe development impossible; a design with “built-in toxicity”; and a development process that was merely simulated. Yeadon offers to testify under oath: “That is an offer and a challenge.”

Sasha Latypova, who says she worked in the pharmaceutical industry for around 25 years, including in drug safety, reports that she was sharply attacked by the other side in the courtroom. Nine attorneys for the defendants faced a single attorney for the plaintiffs. The attorney for the Dutch state, she says, misrepresented her qualifications and her testimony. Her expert report of more than 100 pages argues that the products were classified as military “countermeasures” and are therefore indistinguishable from weapons.

Dr Joseph Sansone recalls the late international law scholar Francis Boyle, who had called the injections bioweapons as early as December 2020 and was due to appear as a witness. Sansone also reports that security staff harassed the group in the building and entered their room uninvited. He calls for “righteous anger” and hopes for lawyers around the world to file similar suits.

Catherine Austin Fitts, formerly Assistant Secretary of Housing at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, describes pandemic policy as an economic “reset”. Lockdowns hit small businesses while large corporations gained market share. Her advice to the audience: use cash, reject digital identities and sell shares in the companies involved. “Courts follow the culture.”

The plaintiff: “For everyone who was harmed”

The quietest moment of the evening belongs to Reginald Dijkstra, one of the plaintiffs. He describes heart problems, three open-heart operations within one week, blood clots, brain fog and daily exhaustion. “We have waited more than three years for this day,” he says. The lawsuit, he adds, is not only for him but for everyone who was harmed by the injections.

During the questions, Sasha Latypova points to the PREP Act. This US law shields manufacturers from lawsuits, which is why thousands of cases in the United States have been dismissed – and why the Dutch case matters for the whole world. Asked by a Finnish journalist what the judges are now weighing, Peter W. H. Stassen answers: “Which side is right?” The plaintiffs, he says, have presented enough evidence to raise at least reasonable doubt.

What happens next

The verdict could be delivered on 9 December 2026, but given the complexity of the case possibly not until February 2027. If the court dismisses the claim, Stassen intends to appeal. Unlike in Britain or the United States, he explains, a Dutch appeal allows new facts and evidence to be introduced, so the case can effectively be heard again. Costs are also low because they depend on the amount in dispute; the plaintiffs paid around 300 euros in court fees at the start.

Fiona Rose Diamond stresses that neither the experts nor she herself are paid, and asks for donations via thenetherlandscase.com. Dr Michael Yeadon closes with a sentence that captures the mood of the evening: the fact that they are still being censored almost seven years later shows “that they have not won”. Stassen himself calls the day “really remarkably positive”: “We have seen that we can bring a message into the court.”


Note: This text reflects the views and statements of the participants as presented at the press conference. The other side was not present. It is based on the transcript of the recording (running time about 1 hour 55 minutes) and the video description on YouTube.

Okay, so for the sake of the people on the live stream, today was the the substantive hearing on the merits in the case not just against Bill Gates, but this was the first major hearing on the merits that's happened. It's not the end of the road, whatever the decision is today. So Peter presented fiercely lionhearted as he always does. Um the 17 defendants, uh if you go to uh the thenetherlandscase.com, you'll see all the information there about this case. Um, but I want to be clear about what this case is and what this case is not. There's been a lot of um, great hype and positive hype around the case and the world is really looking at this now. And I think previously they hadn't been. It had been quite suppressed and silenced and not a lot of people were talking about it and it's been going on since July 2023. Now we have an awful lot of attention. And I think it's really important for us to be very very specific and measured as Brian might say in what we are saying. So this case is a civil case. It's not a criminal case. It is not a case again, you know, crimes against humanity. That is obviously something that we're expressing that it absolutely is. Um but it's not a criminal trial. It's a civil case for damages for the harm, psychological and physical harm that seven injured Pfizer injured plaintiffs have taken this case um filed in July 2023 and damages would be the result but they have they're not just seeking money.

They are seeking the truth exposure exposure of the truth for the love of truth. So I've got a lot of respect for the seven plaintiffs. Two of them have sadly died since litigation began. And we have one with us in the room who'll be saying a few words later. So I've got a huge amount of respect for somebody who wants to just put the whole truth on trial and the narrative on trial and you'll hear more about it. But I would like to welcome Dr. Joseph Sansone. If you can give massive round of applause. Woo. All right. and also uh Sasha Latypova who's probably going to talk about how ripped apart she got today by those judges and she'll set them absolutely straight. And of course um on the do we have them we've got Catherine Austin Fitts who's another expert witness. Can we have a round of applause for Catherine? I hope she can see us.

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