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Netherlands trial: Geert Wilders guilty of incitement | Netherlands trial: Geert Wilders guilty of incitement |
(35 minutes later) | |
Dutch anti-Islam political leader Geert Wilders has been convicted of insulting a group and inciting discrimination. | Dutch anti-Islam political leader Geert Wilders has been convicted of insulting a group and inciting discrimination. |
But no penalty was imposed by the court near Amsterdam on Wilders, whose party is leading in polls ahead of parliamentary elections in March. | |
Wilders was also acquitted of inciting hate over telling supporters in March 2014 he would ensure there were fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands. | |
He called the verdict "madness" in a tweet posted a short time later. | |
He said he would appeal the conviction. | |
The judges described it as an "extraordinary case" because Wilders was the leader of a political party and had a duty not to polarise society. | |
They said the conviction was punishment enough and that there would be no jail sentence or fine, as the prosecution had requested. | |
The verdict follows a three-week trial triggered when police received 6,400 complaints about remarks Wilders made during a municipal election campaign in The Hague. | |
Wilders in the spotlight - Anna Holligan, BBC News, Schiphol | |
This guilty verdict will do little to damage Geert Wilders' political aspirations. The trial has given the populist leader the two things he needs - a platform to promote his political message and the media attention that fuels support for his party. | |
He used his court appearance to repeat warnings about the dangers of Islam and immigration. Many Dutch voters see this as reaffirming their belief - that Wilders is a courageous leader prepared to talk about the issues a politically correct elite is afraid to address. | |
They have been emboldened by populist victories in the UK and US. Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) is currently 10 percentage points ahead of the ruling liberal party in the polls. | |
At a campaign meeting, he asked supporters whether they wanted "fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands". | |
When the crowd shouted back "Fewer! Fewer!" a smiling Wilders responded: "We're going to take care of that." | |
At the trial, prosecutors took testimony from Dutch-Moroccans who said his comments made them feel like "third-rate citizens". | |
Wilders was previously prosecuted in 2011, over anti-Islam comments such as comparing the religion to Nazism and calling for a ban on the Koran. He was acquitted and the case was widely seen as giving the populist leader a publicity boost. |