Prosecutors drop hate speech prosecution against PVV Senate leader

The Public Prosecutor will not be prosecuting Gelderland PVV leader and Senator Marjolein Faber for inciting hatred and discrimination. Nijmegen resident Toine van Bergen filed these charges against her for statements made on social media, but according to the Prosecutor Faber did not commit a criminal offense, the Gelderlander reports. Van Bergen filed the charges against Faber after her statements led to a cooking evening for asylum seekers in the main kitchen of nursing home Boszicht being cancelled. Faber claimed that the nursing home residents will be in danger if the asylum seekers were allowed in. She also criticized the plan to provide education to asylum children at a school in Dukenburg. According to her this would create "532 new Mauro's", referring ta an Angolan boy successfully fighting his deportation on his 18th birthday after living in the Netherlands for 14 years. According to the Public Prosecutor, these statements were not criminal offenses. "It is permissible in a politician's debate and you also have to look at the context; this is what a politician should be able to say in the public debate", a spokesperson for the Prosecutor said. Van Bergen will be appealing against this decision in the court of Arnhem. He is surprised by the decision, given that PVV leader Geert Wilders is being prosecuted for inciting hatred after the "less Moroccans" comments he made in The Hague last year.