Proces Wilders moet overnieuw (en)

Source: G. (Geert) Wilders i, published on Friday, October 22 2010.

The Alice in Wonderland justice system on display in the Amsterdam Court show trial of MP Geert Wilders took another bizarre turn. One of the presiding judges engaged in a thinly veiled attempt to turn an expert witness for the defense, Hans Jansen at a dinner party. Anywhere in the US, such antics would get the Judge dismissed from the bench and subjected to a judicial ethics proceeding leading to possible disbarrment. Wilders accomplished defense counsel, Bram Moszkowicz immediately requested that the judges in the proceeding be dismissed and the witness be recalled. November 5th had been set for a decision in the case. Certainly the public prosecutors thought there was no basis for a conviction of Wilders based on the original charges of violations of a hoary hate speech law in The Netherland. Wilders broke his self imposed silence to say, " The trial is a great big Mess".

Read this DutchNews.nl report from earlier today.

But then came this stunning development. The Court has ordered a re-trial acceding to the objections of Wilders and counsel Moszkowicz.

This AP report notes this latest development in this 'show trial' of MP wilders for alleged 'hate speech'.

A Dutch court ordered a retrial Friday for anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, sending the closely-watched hate speech case back to square one before a whole new panel of judges.

Wilders accused judges at the Amsterdam District Court of bias and called for their dismissal after they refused to recall a defense witness who wrote on a weblog that a member of an appeals panel directly involved in the case had improperly contacted him.

A hastily convened substitute panel ruled Friday that Wilders' objections were valid, which means the trial that began in January must restart from the beginning with new judges.

Wilders welcomed the decision.

"This gives me a new chance on a new fair trial," he said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "I am confident that I can only be acquitted because I have broken no law but spoke the truth and nothing but the truth and exercised my freedom of speech in an important public debate about the dangerous totalitarian ideology called Islam."

Judge G. Marcus said the panel understood Wilders' "fear that the court's decision displays a degree of bias ... and under those circumstances accepts the appeal."

Source: NewEnglishReview.org

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