Prosecutor drops Wilders' discrimination charges against PM
The Public Prosecutor dropped the charges PVV leader Geert Wilders pressed against Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the Prosecutor announced on Thursday. Wilders accused Rutte of discriminating against the Dutch people by giving asylum seekers, among others, more benefits than the Dutch.
No criminal acts were committed, the Public Prosecutor said on Twitter. "Moreover, the Public Prosecution Service is not legally authorized to prosecute official crimes by government members. Only the Tweede Kamer or the Crown can order the Attorney General at the Supreme Court to prosecute government members for official offenses."
Wilders is not happy with this decision. He called the Prosecutor's decision "incomprehensible and cowardly" on Twitter. The PVV leader is now considering launching a so-called Article 12 procedure, to force the court to prosecute Rutte.
According to the Prosecutor, an Article 12 procedure will not work. The Public Prosecution Service can not prosecute the Prime Minister for an official crime, and a court can not change that. "Authority - again - is with the Tweede Kamer [the lower house of Dutch parliament] and the Crown", the Prosecutor said.
Wilders pressed charges against the Prime Minister in November last year. According to the PVV leader, Rutte is discriminating against the Dutch because, among other things, asylum seekers don't have to pay health insurance and get priority on social housing.
