GEERT WILDERS THROWS DOWN GAUNTLET AT BEGINNING OF TRIAL

On Day one of Geert Wilders' trial, in which he is accused of inciting hatred toward Islam, he was able to get the judges to adjourn for 24 hours after calling for them to recuse themselves based on the grounds of bias. The Dutch politician whose anti-Islam party made huge gains in the June elections, putting Wilders at the head of the third largest political party in the Netherlands, is facing a year in jail if convicted and a huge fine.

He's not backing down at all. Via the AFP

AMSTERDAM — The hate speech trial of Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders was adjourned for 24 hours shortly after opening in Amsterdam on Monday as he called on the judges to recuse themselves on the grounds of bias.

"We will now retire to consider" Wilders' application, said judge Frans Bauduin, the chairman of a special panel of judges hastily convened to hear the recusal bid that interrupted Wilders' trial.

This could be the most important trial of the century. Inexplicably, Dutch leadership seems to have an extremely bad case of Stockholm Syndrome.

A little further into the AFP article, we learn what prompted Wilders to request the recusal of the judges:

After a brief initial statement in the morning in which he defended his right to free speech, Wilders announced to the court that he would invoke his right to remain silent and not answer any questions.

This moved presiding judge Jan Moors to observe that Wilders has often been accused in the media of making wild statements and then avoiding the discussions they evoked, adding “it seems as if you’re doing it again”.

What's very interesting here is that if the judges are fearful of siding with Wilders, he may have given them an out.

If they do recuse themselves, it might signify cowardice; if they don't it could signify sympathy for Wilders' accusers.

On October 2nd, two days before his trial started, Wilders gave a speech in Berlin. HERE is the link.

h/t to Weasel Zippers