THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) – Dutch prosecutors insisted Wednesday that the decision to put populist anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders on trial for hate speech was based purely on the law, countering Wilders’ claims that the case is politically motivated.
Putting Wilders on trial “is based on a thorough analysis of the law, the specific circumstances of this case and the use of all the expertise of the prosecutor’s office,” prosecutor Wouter Bos told a three-judge panel. “Nothing more, nothing less.”
Wilders, whose Freedom Party is riding high in opinion polls ahead of parliamentary elections in March, is refusing to attend the trial, labeling it a political witch hunt.
The trial centers on comments Wilders made before and after Dutch municipal elections in 2014. At one meeting in a Hague cafe he asked supporters whether they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands, sparking a chant of “Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!”
“We’ll take care of it,” he replied, in a video recording played in court.