Trial of Dutch MP Geert Wilders resumes in Amsterdam

PanARMENIAN.Net - The trial of anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders on discrimination and inciting hatred charges resumed in Amsterdam on Monday, February 7, with both defence and prosecution saying the entire case should be heard again.

Last October the trial was abandoned after senior court officials ruled several irregularities in the proceedings could be deemed prejudicial. New judges have now been appointed.

During Monday's procedural hearings, Wilders' lawyer Bram Moszkowicz said he wanted to start the whole process from scratch. The public prosecution department said it is not in favour of going right back to the beginning but would agree to the defence's wishes.

The leader of the anti-Islam PVV party faces several charges of inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims, Moroccans and non-Western immigrants.

At his first trial, the MP wanted to call at least 17 witnesses including criminal law professor Theo Roos, several radical imams and Mohammed Bouyeri - the man who murdered film maker Theo van Gogh. Wilders has described Bouyeri as 'living proof' that Islam inspires people to violence.

Moszkowicz said on Monday he would again press for all the witnesses to be heard. At the first trial, only a handful were approved.

Wilders took the stand at the end of Monday's hearing and said the trial is about a 'much bigger' issue than him alone. 'Freedom is being sacrificed because a totalitarian ideology wants to turn it into a sin,' Wilders said. 'It is the duty of free people to resist this.'

Judges last week rejected calls by the plaintiffs for new prosecutors to be appointed. Several of the groups which have pressed for legal action against Wilders are angry that the prosecution department had also called for not guilty verdicts on all charges during the first trial, Dutch News reported.