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AMSTERDAM: Dutch far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders on Wednesday appeared in an Amsterdam court for the first time in connection with charges of inciting racial hatred against Muslims.
Wilders, who has compared the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf, "has always made his statements in his capacity as a public representative," his lawyer Bram Moszkowicz argued at the start of the hearing, held amid heavy security.
The 46-year-old MP, creator of the controversial anti-Islam film Fitna, was greeted outside the Amsterdam district court by about 200 supporters, some of whom came from Belgium and Germany to attend the proceedings.
Wednesday's hearing was to work out the modalities for Wilders' trial, for which no date has been set and which he claims is a "political process."
Moszkowicz argued that this court had no jurisdiction to hear the case, arguing the Supreme Court was the competent authority for allegations involving misconduct by an MP.
But prosecutor Birgit van Roessel said that "expressing his opinion in the media or through other channels is not part of an MP's duties."
Lawmakers only enjoy immunity for their utterances when these are made in the confines of parliament.
Wilders faces five charges of religious insult and anti-Muslim incitement after a court last week dismissed his final challenge against the pending prosecution.
He stands accused of insulting Muslims by describing Islam as a fascist religion and calling for the banning of the Koran.
His 17-minute film, Fitna, was called "offensively anti-Islamic" by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after its screening in the Netherlands in 2008 prompted protests in much of the Muslim world.
The prosecution service had initially declined to charge Wilders, dismissing dozens of complaints from around the country in the context of freedom of speech.
But an appeals court last January ordered prosecutors to put the MP on trial, saying politicians should not be permitted to make "statements which create hate and grief." Wilders' Party for Freedom has nine seats out of 150 in the Dutch parliament.
Posted January 20, 2010, The News
