Geert Wilders: ‘Unbelievable. Let them catch bandits and terrorists instead of prosecuting a politician for speaking the truth about Islam.’

As we reported at the time, back in 2015 Geert Wilders, the leader of the Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) in the Netherlands, gave a speech in Vienna that caused consternation in the local Muslim community and among their Gutmenschen friends. A Muslim leader immediately filed a complaint, and the Austrian public prosecutor began a criminal investigation of Mr. Wilders for “incitement”.

Now the Austrian judicial authorities have transferred responsibility for the investigation to their Dutch counterparts. Here’s the report from Algemeen Dagblad, as translated by the Counterjihad Collective:

Public Prosecutor Investigates Speech PVV Leader Austria’s Request

Judicial Authorities Scrutinizing Speech in Vienna by Geert Wilders.

Public Prosecutor Looks into Statements Made by Geert Wilders in Austria in 2015.

Two years ago, in a speech in Vienna, Wilders said, among other things, that Islam is an “ideology of war and hatred”. The PVV leader also said: “Islam calls on people to be terrorists. The Koran leaves no doubt about it.” A Muslim organization in Vienna subsequently filed a complaint against Wilders, whereupon the Austrian Public Prosecutor began a preliminary judicial inquiry.

Earlier this year it decided to transfer the matter to the Netherlands, the spokesperson Nina Bussek told this newspaper. “We have decided not to prosecute him here, but to transfer the case to our Dutch colleagues out of practical considerations,” Bussek said. This was confirmed by the Public Prosecutor in The Hague. “We have received a legal aid request and are studying it now,” the spokesperson Vincent Veenman said.

In Austria Wilders was accused of Verhetzung, which is comparable to incitement. Several politicians have already been given conditional sentences for this in Vienna. For example, in 2015, a German Pegida leader was given a four-month conditional sentence. He had said that “every Muslim is a potential terrorist”. Austrian legislation is stricter in this regard than its Dutch counterpart.

In 2015 the PVV leader spoke at the invitation of its Austrian sister party, the FPÖ. A day later the Austrian Muslim leader Tarafa Baghajati filed a complaint. “Wilders gave the impression that all Muslims are here to wage war against Europeans,” Baghajati said. “To me, it recalled the Nazi rhetoric of the 1930s in every aspect.” Geert Wilders was not available for comment yesterday evening.

Wilders was convicted last year of group insult and incitement to discrimination. He has appealed the sentence.