CONTROVERSIAL LAWSUIT: Far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders (R) sits beside his lawyer Bram Moszkowicz during a preparatory hearing ahead of his trial for inciting hatred against Muslims. The trial, which has given rise to a heated public debate about freedom of religion and speech in the Netherlands, is set to start in Amsterdam sometime after July 1. (Marcel Antonisse/AFP/Getty Images)

WOERDEN, The Netherlands—Charged with hate speech and inciting discrimination against Muslims, Dutch right-wing Member of Parliament Geert Wilders, will face a lawsuit in the public debate about freedom of religion and speech. The trial is set to take place in Amsterdam sometime between July 1 and October 31.

The court has ruled that Wilders will only be allowed to call [upon] three witnesses for his defense, instead of eighteen as he had proposed, and that they will be heard behind closed doors.
“The court is not interested in the truth or a fair trial,” Wilders was reported as saying by Dutch media.

The official charge includes a long list of alleged degrading statements Wilders made about Islam in various media.

"This is a happy day for all followers of Islam who do not want to be tossed on the garbage dump of Nazism," said lawyer Gerard Spong, one of the people who laid charges against Wilders, as reported in NRC Handelsblad.

The charges were previously dismissed by the public prosecutor, saying that Wilders’ statements may be insulting, but not criminal, and that the statements were made “within the context of the public debate.”

Objections were made against the decision at the appeals court, resulting in a decision to prosecute Wilders. This rather unusual procedure prompted Wilders to call it a “political trial.”
Reports say Wilders could be convicted for up to one year in jail.

‘A Shift of Focus’

Among the 15 dismissed witnesses is Muslim radical Mohammed B., who is in jail for killing Dutch moviemaker Theo van Gogh. The court responded that his testimony would not be necessary as they are “aware that such people do exist.”

Wilders’ lawyer, Bram Moszkowicz, told Dutch media that he was “not amused’ with the decision to deny the testimonies of 15 witnesses and that he thinks that the court is overestimating itself by doing so.

Wilders and his lawyer say the witnesses are key to prove that Wilders’ statements about the Islam are “true” and therefore cannot be considered hate speech—under the reasoning that “truth cannot be punishable.”

This focus on “truth” has shifted the direction of the lawsuit from what the plaintiffs had intended. The court was not originally to decide whether Islam is “intrinsically evil,” as Wilders says, or not.

Other than “truth,” Wilders’ defense is mostly based on freedom of speech. Critics called it “the freedom to insult.”

It appears the judge will have to weigh different fundamental rights against each other, likely leading to more controversy.

Controversial Political Life

Wilders is the leader of the Party of Freedom (PVV), considered a right-wing party with a hard-line assimilation stance on the integration of Muslim immigrants into Dutch society. The party has rapidly grown to become the second largest political party in the Netherlands.

On numerous occasions, Wilders has made comparisons between Islam and Nazism and fascism. Wilders’ remarks have not only insulted followers of Islam but also some Dutch people have also said that Wilders ideas and behavior are a threat to democracy and are destabilizing Dutch society.

Wilders says he wants to warn of the "increasing Islamization" in Western society, and calls for a stop to Muslim immigration to the Netherlands.

After releasing a short anti-Islam film in 2008, the terror threat level soared in the Netherlands and in Dutch Embassies abroad.

“I do not consider Islam a religion, but a dangerous, totalitarian ideology, just like communism and fascism. I can say that, right? If I speak about communism, it is not a problem. I have never talked about people, always about ideology,” Wilders told NRC Handelsblad.

Wilders himself has received numerous murder threats and has been under constant security protection since 2004. He is forced to change locations every night and can only meet his wife once a week.

Political opponents have frequently called him a “racist” and “fascist,” while he is often ridiculed by the common people for his unusual haircut and given the nickname "Mozart" or "Captain Peroxide."

The conclusion of a report called "Polarization and Radicalization in the Netherlands," commissioned by Ministry of Internal Affairs, labeled Wilders as a "new right radical."

"My allies are not Le Pen or Haider … We'll never join up with the fascists and Mussolinis of Italy. I'm very afraid of being linked with the wrong rightist fascist groups,” Wilders had told the Guardian on a trip to England.

Regardless of the outcome, the process seems to have already won Wilder several more seats in Parliament.