Anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders will get a new trial with fresh judges after his lawyer had the current ones dismissed for prejudice and bias.
Mr Wilder's defence lawyer, Bram Moszkowicz, challenged the trial judges after newspaper reports that Tom Schalken, a judge of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, had allegedly tried to influence Arabist Hans Jansen, one of Mr Wilders' expert witnesses. The judge and the witness met at a dinner on 3 May, three days before he was due to be heard as expert witness.
According to article 285a of the Dutch Penal Code, influencing a witness is punishable by up to four years in jail.
Mr Schalken is one of the judges who ordered the Public Prosecutor to try Mr Wilders for group insult, inciting hatred and discrimination. The Public Prosecutor had previously refused to bring legal action against Mr Wilders.
Mr Wilder's defence lawyer, Bram Moszkowicz, wanted to call Mr Jansen as an expert witness for a second time. The judges refused the request, saying they would review it in two weeks' time. In response, Mr Moszkowicz requested the judges to be dismissed. The court's special review panel ruled that the judges had created an appearance of bias and therefore had to be replaced.
The review panel said the appearance of bias had also been created on at least one prior occasion, when the presiding judge said he had the impression Mr Wilders refused to argue his case by claiming the right to be silent.
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide
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Geert W is my HERO.... He has the cojones to defend free speech in the western world...regardless of the ,moral,ethical, racial, political or any other "al" motive. Keep gping Geert i wish i had your balls.......semper fideles,
who is paying for all this shit.?
He that judges without informing himself to the utmost that he is capable, cannot acquit himself of judging amiss.
Geert at first claimed during the coalition talks that he needed time to "recharge his batteries" as the other negociators had the chance to do, instead of appearing in court. Then Geert took the option of silence. Then he was supposed to be declared innocent. Now the issue about the judge and a witness. Geert does not desire a verdict of guilt or innocence in asking for a repetition of his trial, but a means of declaring vindication against the legal system in the event of future court cases against him no matter whatever the charges may be. In seeking this insurance policy, Geert is also supposed to be part of the government. Within a few days of the Rutte-Verhagen accord taking power, comes along the scandal of the dual nationality belong to the Health Minister, brought up by none other than Geert. This action if desireable, should be brought up by the Opposition, not a Coalition partner all too keen to sabotage the government just days into office. It is clear that Geert wants nothing to do with this government but to bring it down as soon as possible, with the immunity his repeated trial will be to the halo of his next election campaign. All of this is forward thinking to feather Geert's nest and forgo public responsibilty, ie: as usual it is all about Geert. For someone whom at first did not wish to be tied up in court, Geert has found a political haven there as a manufactured martyr.
Am a proud Dutchman living in the USA. Am ashamed to read all this nonsense .. Mr Wildershas never been more right .
The so called intelligentsia attempting to silence Mr Wilders belongs in jail. Or better yet give each a one way ticket to a Muslim Majority governed countries . Am sure they would thrive in that environment.
We need a MR Geert Wilders here in the US instead of the President we have now here in The US.
The world better listen to the concerns of Mr.Wilders send all the Mushlims back from where they came from.
We need a MR Geert Wilders here in the US instead of the President we have now here in The US.
The world better listen to the concerns of Mr.Wilders send all the Mushlims back from where they came from.
your last sentence reminds racism tergeting black people. So I guess your solution for that to send people to African countries whom do not share your opinion. very proud Dutch man you are.. send those people away who does not agree hatred speechs of Wilders.
scandalous behavior for judges. I am not surprised, We all knew that this was a political Witch hunt to begin with, this only proves it all the more. I think the proper thing would have been to drop the case all together, apologize to mr. Wilders and make those who brought this case against mr. wilders to be forced to pay for all of Mr. Wilders legal costs, also mr. Wilders should be compensated for the stress and aggravation for putting him and his family through all these months of false alligations, extra stress. Wilders is innocent, he should not be going through this trial at all.
We got rid of Apartheid, at last. The next batch of racist fanatics here will be Muslims. The hideous court case in Amsterdam unvoluntarily high lights the exposure of the Islam-threat and serves Geert as an excellent PR. Geert, we need you and your support base is growing worldwide. Perhaps that's what the judges intended.
As you know, apartheid is a word born of the Dutch language. Wilders' desire to push Muslims out of Dutch society is clearly following that philosophy of intolerance and subversion of a relatively powerless group. The persecution of Islam is similarly motivated to that of Jews in the last century or people of colour in South Africa. The 'Islam-threat' you speak of is nothing more than the imaginings of overactive imaginations.
I do agree with your last point. This trial will give Mr Wilders and his apartheidist ideology even more publicity. NL and the world will be more fractured and polarized places as a result.
"The 'Islam-threat' you speak of is nothing more than the imaginings of overactive imaginations."......JW have you been in coma for the last 15 years? How much proof do you need in order to satisfy your overactive imagination that there is no "Islam-threat"? Wow!
The dinner was on 3 May, and not on 1 October!!!
There is a mistake in the article above. The dinner was on 3 May, not on 1 October!!!
Well it's obvious that Wilders is going to be acquitted, and these are just the play scenes of so called legal system. Acting like everything is justice and Wilders will be justified. Because I don't think that Dutch system can accept a racist government supporter and being labeled as racist unless they justify a racist in the sense of `freedom of speech` I wonder what would happen if Wilders were talking about Jewish religion ? the freedom of speech would apply there ? I don't think so. this is why he's the beginning of corruption and hypocrisy !
come on nemomil...you really can't approve of the judge, who said Wilders should be prosecuted, should not have dinner with one of the chief expert witnesses against Wilders. You might try but can't pin this on a racist society. In fact the Judge should be stripped of his judgeship and like anyone else doing this, he should get some jail time.
Perhaps this farce can be short-circuited and Mr. Wilders, who appears to have divine power to judge religions, can interview the judges he wants and appoint them. In a racist society, this should be easy to do.
Nemomil, you formed a judgement of Mr. Wilders based on your observations and perceptions of his opinions. Now, if you can be judgemental of another person based on your oberservations and perceptions, why can't Wilders do likewise with a religion he sees as dangerous?
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