Court: Geert Wilders may call several witnesses in hate speech trial

PVV leader Geert Wilders will be allowed to call a number of witnesses in the hate speech trial against him. The court in The Hague gave him permission to do so this week, NRC reports. Wilders recently stated that he can't expect a fair trial because the court rejected his request to question some 40 witnesses. He appealed against the decision and the court partially accepted his objection, according to the news agency. The PVV leader also wants to investigate each of the more than 6,400 charges filed against him in the two weeks following the municipal elections on March 19th last years. The 6,400 people who pressed charges feel discriminated against by Wilders' call for "fewer Moroccans" in a cafe in The Hague on the eve of the elections. A spokes person for the court would not comment to NRC which investigations and witnesses were allowed "because the law stipulates that the investigation must be done behind closed doors, in the interest of the investigation."