I guess Geert was right when he said he couldn't get a fair trial from these judges, wasn't he?
The Dutch courts have declared a mistrial in the Geert Wilders case after it came out than one of the judges, Tom Schalken repeatedly tried to influence a witness at the trial, Arabist Hans Jansen at a private dinner party.
Schalken as well as the other judges in this case are all affiliated with the PvdA [Socialists Party] and the GroenLinks [Greens], which should clue you in that the prosecution of this brave man was a politically motivated from the start.
Wilders got the court to declare a mistrial after he accused judges at the Amsterdam District Court of bias and called for their dismissal after they refused to recall Jansen after he wrote on his blog about the judge trying to influence his testimony.
"He kept steering the conversation back to the Wilders case," Jansen wrote. "He tried to convince me that his decision to drag Wilders in front of the Amsterdam District Court was correct."
A hastily convened substitute panel of judges ruled today that Wilders' objections were valid, which means the entire trial has to start again from the beginning, with new judges.
"A judge that's part of my process in the sense that he decided I should be prosecuted ... without blinking an eye goes to dinner and tries to convince a witness that he's right," Wilders told the panel. "I wonder which circus I've landed in here."
No date has been set for a retrial,which isn't surprising since the Dutch public prosecutors had already determined that Wilders was not guilty of the charges and suggested to the judges the case be dropped. There's a good chance the entire matter may simply be dismissed.
Wilders welcomed the decision.
"This gives me a new chance on a new fair trial," he said in a statement. "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."
In fact, Wilders had already won even before this,in the court of public opinion. In the last election, his 'Freedom Party' ran on a platform of curbing Muslim immigration, cutting welfare benefits to immigrants and placing restrictions on radical Islam. It became the third largest in the Netherlands and a coalition partner to the new center right Dutch government, which has pledged to carry out much of the Freedom Party's agenda.
As I said earlier, this is a turning point for Europe.Congratulations, Mr. Wilders. You've won an important victory.
(hat tip, Tundra Tabloids
4 comments:
Congratulations to & God bless Geert Wilders !
dragon/dinosaur
I'd like your thoughts on how this is a turning point. Will Europeans stop Muslim immigration? Will Europeans start having more children so that Muslims won't be in the majority later in this century? It seems to me that unless Europeans take drastic steps now, a small victory for free speech won't save them.
There's a good chance the entire matter may simply be dismissed.
i think this is a reckless comment by ff.
allow me to be a stick in the mud.
the ruling elites simply won't allow it.
the prosecutor's office didn't want to bring charges in the first place, this shalken guy forced this on them because he is a justice on the appeals court for crying out loud.
can you say apartheid?
sure you can.
it doesn't matter if the majority of the dutch favor geert or his party or policy.
the queen and her court will continue the policy they have established.
geert is simply being used as an example of what will happen if you get in their way.
and what of the next court?
another mistrial?
and after that?
and what if they have to lock up half the population, you ask?
then you do not understand dutch politics and or european/history.
how long will the queen continue these policies?
she will continue them even as the edge of the simitar penetrates the outer layer of the fleshy surface of her throat.
as the simitar travels further, she may have second thoughts. the operative word there is, "may".
no, this will not go away.
Hello Anonymous,
It is a turning point. Holland has a new center Right government in which Wilders' Party is a coalition partner,and in order to get that support the coalition is pledged to crack down on radical Islam, restrict Muslim immigration, and passing laws to insist that Dutch Muslims decrying violence and assimilating to Dutch culture.
Up to now, people like Widers ( Ayaan Hirsh Ali is an example) have simply been forced to leavce the country and keep their mouths shut. Those days are going to be over, as a victory like this prompts other challenges to the dhimmitude promoted by Holland's former socialist masters.
If one looks at this development and similar ones in France, Sweden Switzerland and Germany,(among others)the trend is obvious.
I agree with Ralph Peters that in some countries, you may actually see some forced deportations.
The trend in Europe is also towards a more free market economy, which will encourage higher birth rates. There are a number of statistical studies correlating this,mainly because when people have hope and expectations for the future, they have kids. Israel, for instance, has one of the highest fertility rates in the Western world.
Hi Louie
The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy will parliament having most of the power, and the former socialist government is responsible for most of the policies you mention.Parliament has now changed, and Wilders' party is an important part of it.
Queen Beatrix has actually been fairly outspoken about large scale Muslim immigration and the politically correct policies that have allowed them to
avoid assimilating into Western Dutch culture.
Regards,
Rob
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