fewer Moroccans

The court has jurisdiction, the Public Prosecution Service is independent, there are ample grounds to convict PVV leader Geert Wilders of hate speech, and no reason to drop the case against him, the Advocate General said on Friday in the appeal in the hate speech trial against Wilders. The PVV leader himself was not present in the court room, Het Parool reports.

As the appeal in the hate speech case against PVV leader Geert Wilders continued in the high security court at Schiphol on Tuesday, his lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops demanded that the case be declared inadmissible due to political interference in the decision to prosecute, NOS reports. The prosecutor denied that any interference occurred, and pressed for the case to move forward as scheduled.

The Public Prosecutor's office (OM) demanded a five thousand euro fine from Geert Wilders, the leader of far right nationalist party PVV. The sentence recommendation was made during the prosecution's closing argument in a court case stemming from Wilders's political rally speech just before the elections in March 2014.

A former civil servant who was going to testify in the hate speech trial against PVV leader Geert Wilders, decided to not testify after all, according to Wilders' lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops. The man is afraid that he will be prosecuted by the Public Prosecution Service, the lawyer said to AD. 

The political viewpoints of Geert Wilders and his party PVV played no role in the decision to prosecute Wilders for statements he made about Moroccans, the Public Prosecutor again stressed on Friday at the start of the appeal in the hate-speech case against the PVV leader. This is only about what he said, the Prosecutor said, NU.nl reports.

There are "indications" that former Minister Ivo Opstelten of Justice and Security urged the Public Prosecution Service in 2014 to prosecute PVV leader Geert Wilders for hate speech over statements he made about Moroccans, Wilders' lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops said. He asked the court for "further investigation" into the question of whether the Minister influenced this case, Knoops said to RTL Nieuws.

The court in The Hague will start the hate speech appeal against PVV leader Geert Wilders next week Thursday. Eleven days were set aside for the trial, which will be held in the high security court at Schiphol, RTL Nieuws reports. 

Geert Wilders and his lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops want the appeal in the hate speech trial against the PVV leader postponed until after the Public Prosecutor decided what to do with discrimination charges pressed against D66 leader Alexander Pechtold over a remark he made about Russians.

Wilders and Knoops sent the request for postponement to the Court of Appeal in The Hague on March 1st, the PVV confirmed to RTL Nieuws. 

PVV leader Geert Wilders expressed his doubts about the neutrality of judge Jeanne Gaakeer, the president of the court of law in The Hague, who is handling the appeal of the hate speech trial against him. According to Wilders, Gaakeer is chairman of a foundation that previously awarded a prize to Sinead Wendt, a left-wing activist involved in anti-Wilders protests.

The appeal in the hate speech trial against PVV leader Geert Wilders starts in the high security court at Schiphol on Tuesday. The trial revolves around statements Wilders made about wanting fewer Moroccans in The Hague while campaigning in 2014. In December last year, Wilders was found guilty of hate speech, but not given a punishment. Both Wilders and the Public Prosecutor appealed.

The lawyers assisting the claimants in the appeal of the hate speech against PVV leader Geert Wilders, are struggling to get compensation for their work from the Legal Assistance Board. One of the lawyers asked that the appeal, set to start at the end of October, be postponed until the matter is sorted out, AD reports.