Retrial ordered after it emerged that one of the judges in the case
had tried to sway a potential witness
Ian Traynor, Europe editor
Saturday October 23 2010
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/22/geert-wilders-trial-collapses
The hate speech trial of the controversial far-right Dutch leader,
Geert Wilders, collapsed in disarray at the last minute today when the
panel of judges in the case were deemed to be biased. A retrial was
ordered.
Wilders, who is enjoying soaring support at home and propping up a new
minority anti-immigration government [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/
2010/oct/01/dutch-far-right-burqa-ban" title="propping up a new
minority anti-immigration government] established last week, has been
in the dock since earlier this month [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/
2010/oct/04/geert-wilders-trial-opens" title="in the dock since
earlier this month] on five charges of inciting racial and religious
hatred for his robust denunciations of Islam as fascist and demanding
the Qur'an be banned.
During the trial he has been lionised as a modern-day Galileo as well
as branded a "little Hitler". Today was the final scheduled day of the
trial, with the verdict from the panel of three judges at Amsterdam
district court due next week.
But in the past 48 hours it emerged that one of the appeal court
judges who ordered Wilders to stand trial had dinner in May with a
potential witness, a Dutch expert on Islam, and that the judge had
sought to convince the professor of Arabic studies why Wilders had to
be prosecuted.
Last night, Wilders, who has remained silent throughout the trial,
tweeted that Dutch justice was like the mafia.
This morning, Bram Moszkowicz, Wilders's lawyer, asked to summon the
witness and was refused. He formally protested that the judges were
biased against the defendant, a complaint that was upheld by another
judges' panel, which ordered a retrial with a new bench.
The highly unusual event means that it is likely to be months before a
new trial can be held.
Wilders, whose Freedom party came third in elections in June and who
has deftly manoeuvred himself into the role of sleeping partner with
the new minority coalition of rightwing liberals and Christian
Democrats, has argued that the trial is a farce, a disgrace, and an
assault on free speech.
It appeared things were going his way because in testimony last week,
the Dutch prosecution service argued there was no case to answer,
dismissed all five charges against Wilders, and said he should be
acquitted.
The prosecution service initially declined to bring charges against
Wilders related to newspaper articles he has written, likening Islam
to nazism and because of his incendiary anti-Muslim film Fitna. But
prosecutors were ordered by an appeal court in January last year to
press charges.
It was one of the appeal judges, Tom Schalken, who had dinner with the
Arabist, Hans Jansen, who told a Dutch newspaper today that the judge
had tried "to convince me of the correctness of the decision to take
Wilders to court".
Moszkowicz had sought to have the trial judges removed on the opening
day of hearings after one of them passed comment on Wilders's decision
to make use of his right to remain silent during the proceedings. That
complaint was dismissed.
The trial has heard a series of Muslims and Dutch citizens of
immigrant origin or from mixed marriages argue that Wilders is
"dangerous", "divisive", and that he makes them fear for their futures
in The Netherlands.
Moszkowicz told the court that Wilders was a straight-talking,
campaigning politician seeking to prevent Qur'an-inspired violence.
"Regardless of the danger to his own life, he speaks about the dangers
he sees around him that result from immigration," the lawyer told the
court. "In his eyes, Islam is a totalitarian ideology."
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2010
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