Court remands Amsterdam suspect to jail for threatening Geert Wilders

The suspect who was arrested on Friday evening on suspicion of threatening PVV leader Geert Wilders Geert Wilders was remanded into custody during an arraignment on Monday. The 42-year-old Amsterdam resident allegedly threatened the politician in statements posted to social media platform X.

A spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service would not elaborate on what the man is accused of writing. The spokesperson also could not provide further details about how the police were able to catch him red-handed and arrest him, as previously reported.

Details about a possible motive were not released. The politician himself often uses social media and other venues to share his anti-Islam stance, his pro-Israel positions, and his aggressive desire to clamp down on immigration and asylum procedures.

Wilders thanked the police for their quick response on Sunday, saying he would be in a vulnerable position without their help, he wrote on X. Wilders has been under guard for ten years because he receives serious death threats, often linked to Islam.

The suspect will face another hearing within 14 days. At that point, he can be ordered to remain in pre-trial detention for a longer period of time.

As the leader of the largest party in Parliament following the November elections, Wilders is trying to form what could be his first Cabinet as prime minister. Negotiations between the PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB are expected to move towards more substantive talks in the coming weeks.