In The Wake Of The Wilders Trial

by Walker Morrow
November 1, 2010

https://www.legal-project.org/861/in-the-wake-of-the-wilders-trial

Excerpt:

As noted in an earlier article, the prosecution of Dutch politician Geert Wilders for group insult and incitement of hatred and discrimination went off the rails earlier this month. Not only did the Dutch Public Prosecutor advise that all charges against Wilders be dropped, but the judges handling his case were all dismissed after one of them – Tom Schalken - attended the same dinner party as a trial witness and apparently attempted to engage him in a conversation about the trial – a big potential for conflict of interest. Schalken is now facing proceedings launched by Wilders for influencing a witness.

The trial is expected to start over from scratch, but in the interim there has been some rather interesting fall-out in The Netherlands.

First, it looks like Geert Wilders is trying to limit the reach of Holland's law against group insult. As Radio Netherlands Worldwide reports:

"VVD leader Mark Rutte, the current PM, and Mr Wilders wanted to give politicians immunity for insulting remarks made as part of the national debate. They also intended to limit a ban on insults relating to "inherited characteristics", such as ethnic origin and gender."

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