Putting Words in His Mouth

In a bizarre twist, it now appears that some of the “hate speech” quotes used to prosecute Geert Wilders were not originally uttered by him — they were written by the late Oriana Fallaci.

I’m sure Mr. Wilders is flattered. But his lawyer is using the prosecution’s embarrassing error as a part of his client’s defense.

According to De Telegraaf, as translated by our Flemish correspondent VH:

Amsterdam Court ascribed statement by Oriana Fallaci to Geert Wilders

Moszkowicz is fighting against the prosecution

Wilders’ quotes have been distorted by Amsterdam Court

By Joost de Haas

The Court in Amsterdam has made mistakes in the decision to prosecute Geert Wilders. The PVV leader has had attributed to him statements that he never made. Also, the court relied on incomplete and distorted quotes of statements.

That is according to Wilders in a petition his lawyer Abraham Moszkowicz presented yesterday to the highest court of our country. Moszkowicz asks the Attorney General of the High Council to establish a “cassation appeal in the interest of the law” to contest the order of the court. The lawyer wants prosecution to be nullified.

Wilders calls it a serious matter that they have used incorrect quotes: “This is a very fundamental issue that exceeds the importance of my case. Mr. Moszkowicz has put all errors in order, one by one, and deals out a sledgehammer blow with that.”

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The judges Tom M. Schalken, J.P. Splint and F.A. Hartsuiker of the Amsterdam Court ruled earlier this year that Wilders has to be prosecuted because of the incitement to hatred and discrimination. Also, the politician has to go to court for “insulting a group” of Muslim believers because he has described the Koran as an “Islamic Mein Kampf.” In this high-profile case, which has attracted worldwide attention, the prosecution according to Moszkowicz and Wilders has even made use of the statements of a deceased person. This is about a quote on the Koran by the writer Oriana Fallaci. The quote is put forward by the court as a quote of a statement by Wilders.

In related news, the strength of Geert Wilders’ party, the PVV, continues to grow. According to the PVV website, also translated by VH:

Poll: PVV would gain eleven seats in Rotterdam City Council

If there were municipal elections in Rotterdam today, the PVV of Geert Wilders would win 11 of the 45 seats on the Rotterdam City Council. This is evident from a survey by the free newspaper Metro. “I am really happy about this,” responds Wilders, who has some idea why so many Rotterdammers are supporting the Party for Freedom. “Because the PVV is a sincere citizens’ party that stands for the Netherlands and the common man and woman, who stand firm and tell it like it is.”

The decision to have the PVV actually join the municipal elections in Rotterdam depends on finding the suitable candidates. “We are busy recruiting candidates and assessing them.”

According to MegaStad FM, the poll shows that the PvdA in Rotterdam would lose six seats and go down from 18 to 12 seats; Leefbaar Rotterdam (the party of the late Pim Fortuyn) would also lose seats and go from 14 to 8.

Elsevier.nl reports that Wilders is seriously considering joining the municipal elections in The Hague, Rotterdam, Den Helder and his birthplace Venlo. “The municipal elections will be held next year, but we are busy looking into it to see whether we at least will join in a few cities in the municipal elections,” Wilders added to DePers.nl.