Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders goes on trial in a landmark case on hate speech as a high-security court heard how children had been scared by inflammatory calls that fewer Moroccans should live in the country.
As expected, the firebrand MP with the peroxide-blonde hair snubs the court, leaving his defense lawyer to read out a statement to explain the no-show.
“It is a political process and I have decided not to be present. It’s my right as a politician to speak out if there is a problem in the Netherlands,” says Wilders’ statement. Prosecutors confirm they will not demand that he appear.
Analysts say the highly-anticipated trial will test the boundaries of freedom of expression as general elections loom in March.
L to R: Judges arrive at a courthouse in Schiphol on October 31, 2016, for the start of the trial of Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders on charges of insulting a racial group and inciting racial hatred. (AFP PHOTO/ANP/Koen van Weel)
Three judges are hearing the case against Wilders, 53, on charges of insulting a racial group and inciting racial hatred after comments he made about Moroccans living in the Netherlands.
The trial focuses in part on a comment made at a March 2014 local government election rally, when Wilders asked supporters whether they wanted “fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands.”
When the crowd shouted back “Fewer! Fewer!” a smiling Wilders answered: “We’re going to organize that.”
His 2014 statements were met with outrage including from the small but vocal Dutch Muslim community. An avalanche of 6,400 complaints followed.
— AFP
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