Wilders acquitted of hate speech charge

AMSTERDAM: Dutch far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders walked away from hate speech and discrimination charges Thursday for statements made attacking Islam, calling his acquittal a victory for freedom of speech.

“You are being acquitted on all the charges that were put against you,” Judge Marcel van Oosten told Mr. Wilders who has been on trial in the Amsterdam regional court since October last year.

The flamboyant MP faced five counts of hate speech and discrimination for his anti-Islamic remarks on websites, Internet forums and in Dutch newspapers between October 2006 and March 2008, and in his controversial 17-minute movie “Fitna” (“Discord” in Arabic).

“The bench finds that your statements are acceptable within the context of the public debate,” the judge told the platinum-haired politician, whose case was boosted by a prosecution unwilling to take aim at him.

“The bench finds that although gross and denigrating, it did not give rise to hatred,” said Judge van Oosten.

The 47-year-old Wilders, whose right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) lends its support to the right-leaning Dutch coalition government, told journalists afterwards he was “overjoyed and very happy” to have been acquitted. — AFP