Wilders won’t be prosecuted for inflammatory social media posts

Leader of the anti-immigration party PVV Geert Wilders will not be prosecuted for insult and inciting hatred and discrimination for “lack of proof”, public prosecution office OM has said.

In August last year, Wilders posted a drawing on social media platform X  depicting a face made up of two halves, with one half showing a young, white, blonde woman captioned PVV, and the other a scowling, headscarf-wearing older woman captioned PvdA (the opposition labour party now called Progressief Nederland).

Some 14 Muslim organisations as well as women’s legal rights organisation Bureau Clara Wichmann and WOMEN Inc. reported the drawing to police; 16,000 people complained about the post to discrimination monitor Discriminatie.nl.

According to the prosecution office, the image can be seen as an illustration of the two parties’ stance on Islam and migration. It can also be interpreted as Geert Wilders’ way of showing whose interests he is serving, which, the OM said, does not amount to discrimination.

There were insufficient grounds, the office said, to determine the post an incitement of hatred or violence against a particular group of people.

It is understandable that people find the image hurtful, the OM said, but “the extent to which something is undesirable or hurtful does not determine if a criminal action has taken place”.