Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islam PVV and a silent partner of the probable new government, is on trial in Amsterdam on Monday on charges of discrimination and inciting hatred against Muslims, Moroccans and non-Western immigrants.

Today’s hearings are being broadcast live on tv, an almost unprecedented step in Dutch legal history.
Wilders himself has decided not to answer any questions from the court.
Mein Kampf
The trial centres on a number of statements made by Wilders over the years. In one, he likened the Koran to Hitler’s book Mein Kampf and called for it to be banned.
In another, he said: ‘The borders will be closed that day for all non-western immigrants….We have to stop the tsunami of islamisation. It is affecting our heart, our identity, our culture.’
As each statement was read out in court, officials asked Wilders if the quotation was accurate and if he had approved it before publication. In each case, Wilders refused to answer.
Voters
In a short statement before announcing he would not answer any questions, Wilders said the ‘freedom of speech for at least 1.5 million people is on trial’, referring to the 1.5 million people who voted for the PVV at the last election.
‘Wilders has established himself as the anti-status quo figure, so he will try to turn the trial into a political event, to try to prove that indeed he is correct that there is no freedom of speech in the Netherlands,’ Dick Houtman, professor of cultural sociology at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, told the Financial Times.
Witnesses
The PVV leader had originally wanted to call 18 expert witnesses, including the killer of film maker Theo van Gogh, to testify on his behalf but judges reduced that to four at pre-trial hearings.
The public prosecution department had earlier decided not to take Wilders to court but supporters of legal action won their case on appeal.
The case will be heard over six days spread over the next weeks and the verdict will be announced on November 4.