Prosecution drop case against Wilders

Dutch prosecutors seem to have come to their senses and decided that anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders should be found not guilty on all counts after all, in spite of the fact that it was the prosecutors who brought the charges against him in the first place.

The intricacies of Dutch law are a mystery to MWW, but it seems unusual for an initially enthusiastic prosecutor to have a complete change of heart by the end of the trial, and admit that their case was essentially nonsense. Refreshing, yes. But strange.

Dutch News reports:

Prosecutors Birgit van Roessel and Paul Velleman reached their conclusions after a careful reading of interviews with and articles by the anti-Islam politician and a viewing of his anti-Koran film Fitna.

They said comments about banning the Koran can be discriminatory, but because Wilders wants to pursue a ban on democratic lines, there is no question of incitement to discrimination ‘as laid down in law’.

On the comparison of the Koran with Mein Kampf, the prosecutors said the comparison was ‘crude but that did not make it punishable’.

Dealing earlier on Friday with incitement to hatred, Van Roessel and Velleman said some comments could incite hatred against Muslims if taken out of context, but if the complete text is considered, it can be seen that Wilders is against the growing influence of Islam and not against Muslims per sé.

On Tuesday, the prosecutors said the MP should not be found guilty of group insult.

UPDATE: It gets more farcical by the day. Now the judges have been told to step down, as they displayed such obvious bias against Wilders.


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