February 7 2011
The trial for right wing politician Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party (PVV), on charges of inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims, resumed in Amsterdam on Monday. The trial stalled in the fall of 2010 due to irregularities in proceedings, and was to continue with new judges. Monday’s hearings opened with both sides calling for ending the present trial- Wilders’ lawyer said he wanted to start the process over from the beginning, and the public prosecution department agreed, in at least limited terms, to the defence’s wishes. Wilders took the stand at the end of Monday’s hearing to announce that the trial is about a “much bigger issue” than himself, that “freedom is being sacrificed because a totalitarian ideology wants to turn it into a sin”.
