Wilders Court Case Restarts from Scratch

Wilders Court Case Restarts from Scratch
THE HAGUE, 15/02/11 - The entire court case against MP Geert Wilders will be retried. His lawyer Bram Moszkowicz yesterday obtained the right to conduct his entire defence anew, including challenging the validity of the Public Prosecutor (OM) case. The lawyer wants to ensure via the challenge - a request to declare the OM's case inadmissible - that the OM loses its right to prosecute. If this is successful the case will have to be dropped. Moszkowicz will among other things argue that it is not possible to prosecute Wilders because he is an MP. The OM wanted to resume the case where it had been adjourned, meaning the defence would not be allowed to challenge the OM again. Moszkowicz unsuccessfully challenged the OM before. But the judges that handled the case then have been replaced. The case was earlier suspended halfway through because the three sitting judges had given the impression of bias. At the request of Wilders and his defence, they were replaced by three new judges. These judges decided yesterday that Moszkowicz can challenge the OM again. The district court in Amsterdam also allowed Wilders to call three witnesses. These are Judge Tom Schalken and Islam experts Hans Jansen and Bertus Hendriks. Wilders asked for another 15 witnesses to be heard, but these were all rejected. Schalken, Jansen and Hendriks met one another earlier in the proceedings, a day before Jansen was to testify in the case. Jansen says that the judge tried to convince him that Wilders was guilty. Wilders wants the judge to be prosecuted in separate proceedings for influencing a witness. The MP is on trial for incitement to hatred, discrimination and insulting. It concerns statements that he made outside parliament.
	www.nisnews.nl