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Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker challenges race trial judges

04 October 2010 18:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Dutch anti-Islamist politician Geert Wilders, a key player in efforts to form a new government, accused judges trying him on charges of inciting hatred of scandalous bias and demanded they be replaced, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Wilders, who has 24-hour police guard because of death threats, went on trial Monday over comments including a comparison he made between the Islamic faith and Nazism.
The prosecutor, reacting to complaints about Wilders, originally said he was protected by the right to free speech, but a court overruled him and ordered that Wilders be charged.
Anti-racism group the Netherlands Admits Color, which helped initiate the case against Wilders, has placed 100 comments by Wilders online to back its allegation that he is responsible for xenophobia and discrimination.
"I have said what I have said and I will not take one word back, but that doesn’t mean I’ve said everything attributed to me," Wilders said before invoking his right to remain silent.
That stance prompted the presiding judge to say that Wilders had been accused by others of making statements while avoiding debate and that it appeared he was doing the same in court.
"I find it ... inappropriate, improper and even scandalous the chairman of the court interprets this and commentates on it," Wilders said at a separate hearing hastily held to discuss concerns raised by his lawyer Bram Moszkowicz about the impartiality of the judges.
"The appearance of bias ... has been invoked. A fair process is no longer possible," Wilders added.
But Geert-Jan Alexander Knoops, an international criminal law professor at Utrecht University, said it was difficult to assess whether the court had crossed the line as the remarks do not necessarily say anything about Wilders’s guilt or innocence.
Judges adjourned the trial and will decide at about 1200 GMT Tuesday on the issue of the judges’ impartiality.
If the court rules in favor of the defence’s objections, new judges must be imposed, delaying the trial for months.
GOVERNMENT ROLE
The trial comes at an awkward time for Wilders, whose party is poised to gain a powerful role in the running of the country through its support of a minority government made up of the Liberals (VVD) and Christian Democrat (CDA) parties.
A CDA congress voted in favor of entering into a minority government with support from the Freedom Party Saturday, but remains split over the prospect of relying on Wilders’ support. A final decision on the matter will be made Tuesday.
"He divides, he creates hate, he creates conflicts between people. Some people can’t accept this. Other people can," said Mohammed Rabbae of the National Council for Moroccans.
There was a small group of anti-Wilders protestors outside the heavily-policed Amsterdam court building Monday and one protest banner said a Wilders-backed Dutch government would stand for "discord and polarization."
If convicted, Wilders faces a maximum sentence of one year imprisonment or a fine, but would be able to keep his parliamentary seat.
In theory, the court could impose a sentence preventing him running for re-election, but such a drastic ruling is considered by legal experts to be highly unlikely.
In his 2008, film "Fitna" he said the Koran incited violence and in an opinion piece in a Dutch daily he compared Islam to fascism and the Koran to Adolf Hitler’s book "Mein Kampf."
The case against him is reminiscent of the trial of French politician Jean Marie Le Pen, who was first convicted in 2005 for inciting hatred against Muslims. The European Court for Human rights denied Le Pen’s appeal in April.