THE HAGUE, May 18 (Xinhua) -- The criminal appeal proceedings against Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders have been temporarily halted after a special court commission ruled Friday that the judges should be replaced.
Wilders objected to the three judges on Thursday after his requests for extra investigation were rejected. The court in The Hague did not want to investigate the prosecutor's decision not to prosecute liberal democrats D66 leader Alexander Pechtold for what Wilders says were similar comments Wilders was convicted for.
"The statement (by the judges) on the principle of equality is so brief and incomprehensible that the fear of bias on this issue is objectively justified," the special court objection commission declared on Friday at a court room near Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, where the trial is located for security reasons.
The court refused to grant the request by Wilders to stall the proceedings on Thursday, after which Wilders objected to the three judges for being "biased". Three new judges now have to be appointed and these new judges have to become informed about the case, which will cause a temporarily delay.
In December 2016, Wilders was found guilty in a so-called "hate speech trial" for insulting Moroccans as a group and inciting discrimination.
He was convicted for statements made in 2014. In his speech after the municipal elections campaign that year, Wilders asked his supporters whether they wanted "more or fewer" Moroccans, with the attendees cheering "fewer, fewer" as their answer. "Good, we're going to arrange that," Wilders concluded.
In February this year, Pechtold had said: "I have yet to meet the first Russian who corrects his mistakes himself." According to the public prosecutor, this comment was incomparable to Wilders' comments. The court followed the prosecutor and ruled on Thursday that no parties or documents from the Pechtold case need to be heard or added to the Wilders case.
Pechtold made his remark earlier this year after then foreign minister Halbe Zijlstra had apologized for having lied about a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Seven people filed a complaint against Pechtold because of his comment, but the public prosecutor said the politician had not insulted an entire group of people and should not be prosecuted.
Wilders stressed on Thursday that he did not think Pechtold should be prosecuted, but that the same should apply to himself. "I think I should not be here," Wilders said.
