trial began against Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders on Monday for inciting racial hatred against Moroccans – but with not a hair of the controversial politician in sight.
Wilders is being tried for racial discrimination and inciting hatred, after he led a 2014 party rally to call for “fewer, fewer” Moroccans in the Netherlands.
According to Dutch newspaper the Trouw, if he wins, his lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops wants to claim his costs from the ‘named parties’ – thought to be largely Dutch Moroccans – whose complaints and claims have brought the trial.
The paper claims that documents sent to the court last week calling for the compensation would cost up to €1,150 per person, or €46,000 – although the lawyer for one Dutch-Moroccan man who is claiming €500 told the paper “the chances that the judge will agree are probably zero.”
But Wilders has said that the trial is “a travesty”, posting on his Twitter feed late on Sunday night that “Islam is the real hate speech”.
He told Dutch newspaper the AD – in a speech read out in court by his lawyer on Monday morning – that the trial was a “political process” and that “the Netherlands has an enormous Moroccan problem….[and] if talking about it is a criminal offense, then the Netherlands is no longer a free country but a dictatorship.”
He has said he will not appear, which one of the three judges said was his democratic right.
The trial revolves around whether Wilders’ calls for “fewer Moroccans” in the Netherlands referred only to criminal Moroccans – as he subsequently said in other interviews – and to what extent the speeches and responses were prepared.
Wilders faces a possible jail term, but commentators in the Netherlands suggest it is more likely that if convicted, he would receive a fine or community service. A criminal conviction would not stop him standing in the general elections in March 2017.
His far-right party the PVV, which wants to ban the Koran, shut all mosques and asylum centres and take the Netherlands out of the EU – as he told The Daily Telegraph in an exclusive interview – is level with prime minster Mark Rutte’s ruling VVD party, with about 18% of the vote.
The current trial, five years after Wilders was acquitted of inciting hatred towards Muslims, revolves around two events: a media interview and subsequent rally speech given during a local election campaign in The Hague in March 2014.
In the first interview in a market, on 12th March 2014, he told the NOS broadcaster that people were voting “for a safer, more social city with less trouble and if possible, fewer Moroccans.” On 19th March, he spoke at a party rally in a café in The Hague, asking the audience whether they wanted fewer Moroccans – to the answer “fewer” – then added: “Then we will arrange this.”
The court case, based on 6,400 complaints to police, hears witness statements, and presentations from the prosecution and defence. It will be decided by three judges and is expected to take three weeks.
Wilders is being tried for racial discrimination and inciting hatred, after he led a 2014 party rally to call for “fewer, fewer” Moroccans in the Netherlands.
According to Dutch newspaper the Trouw, if he wins, his lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops wants to claim his costs from the ‘named parties’ – thought to be largely Dutch Moroccans – whose complaints and claims have brought the trial.
The paper claims that documents sent to the court last week calling for the compensation would cost up to €1,150 per person, or €46,000 – although the lawyer for one Dutch-Moroccan man who is claiming €500 told the paper “the chances that the judge will agree are probably zero.”
But Wilders has said that the trial is “a travesty”, posting on his Twitter feed late on Sunday night that “Islam is the real hate speech”.
He told Dutch newspaper the AD – in a speech read out in court by his lawyer on Monday morning – that the trial was a “political process” and that “the Netherlands has an enormous Moroccan problem….[and] if talking about it is a criminal offense, then the Netherlands is no longer a free country but a dictatorship.”
He has said he will not appear, which one of the three judges said was his democratic right.
The trial revolves around whether Wilders’ calls for “fewer Moroccans” in the Netherlands referred only to criminal Moroccans – as he subsequently said in other interviews – and to what extent the speeches and responses were prepared.
Wilders faces a possible jail term, but commentators in the Netherlands suggest it is more likely that if convicted, he would receive a fine or community service. A criminal conviction would not stop him standing in the general elections in March 2017.
His far-right party the PVV, which wants to ban the Koran, shut all mosques and asylum centres and take the Netherlands out of the EU – as he told The Daily Telegraph in an exclusive interview – is level with prime minster Mark Rutte’s ruling VVD party, with about 18% of the vote.
The current trial, five years after Wilders was acquitted of inciting hatred towards Muslims, revolves around two events: a media interview and subsequent rally speech given during a local election campaign in The Hague in March 2014.
In the first interview in a market, on 12th March 2014, he told the NOS broadcaster that people were voting “for a safer, more social city with less trouble and if possible, fewer Moroccans.” On 19th March, he spoke at a party rally in a café in The Hague, asking the audience whether they wanted fewer Moroccans – to the answer “fewer” – then added: “Then we will arrange this.”
The court case, based on 6,400 complaints to police, hears witness statements, and presentations from the prosecution and defence. It will be decided by three judges and is expected to take three weeks.