Posted on 09/14/2009 2:01:50 PM PDT by knighthawk
THE HAGUE, 15/09/09 - The criminal court case in which MP Geert Wilders will be on trial for incitement to hatred against Muslims begins on 20 January. The MP is considering calling "radical Imams and other idiots" as witnesses in the proceedings.
The politician has to appear in the Amsterdam district court on 20 January for incitement to hatred and discrimination against Muslims and insulting Muslims as a group. In this pro-forma session, the Public Prosecutor and Wilders can bring up their investigatory wishes.
Wilders wants to make it the 'trial of the century'. "I want Islam to stand trial and not me," he declares. "That is why I am considering calling radical Imams and other idiots as witnesses," said the Party for Freedom (PVV) leader in De Telegraaf newspaper.
As well as Muslims, the politician, who is represented by top lawyer Bram Moszkowicz, also wants to call "important, international expert witnesses in the area of freedom of speech", according to Moszkowicz.
In June 2008, the Public Prosecutor's Office (OM) decided not to prosecute Wilders because it concluded that nothing he ever said or did constituted a punishable offence. The appeal court in Amsterdam however disagreed and ordered the OM to prosecute the MP after all.
Wilders denies that he is pleased because the court case will only increase his electorally successful anti-establishment profile. "I would rather have no court case and five fewer seats in the polls; I do not want to be a suspect." He speaks of a political trial, though he "hopes freedom of speech will win."
Politicians cannot be prosecuted for statements made in parliament. The case however involves statements made by Wilders in De Volkskrant and De Pers newspapers, in an Internet column and in his anti-Islam film Fitna, released in March 2008.
The appeal court that ordered the OM to prosecute considered that various statements by Wilders constitute a criminal offence according to Dutch law "as seen in connection with each other, both because of their contents and the method of presentation (...) characterized by biased, strongly generalising phrasings with a radical meaning, ongoing reiteration and an increasing intensity, as a result of which hate is created."
Ping
Sad to see an European nation pander to the world’s largest hate group....Islam
This is nothing but a Soviet style show-trial....on behalf of the most hateful religious cult
I wish the best for Wilders
Socialism makes a moral autocrat look good.
Awesome... do they allow tv cameras in the courtroom there?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.