Geert Wilders, the leader of the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, is currently enduring his third trial for “hate speech”. The first time a mistrial was declared after it was revealed that one of the judges may have attempted to suborn one of the defense witnesses. The second time Mr. Wilders was acquitted.

This time he is being prosecuted for asking his supporters whether they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in their country. Due to security concerns, the trial is taking place in a high-security courtroom at Schiphol Airport.

The proceedings opened on Friday, September 23. Below is a video of Mr. Wilders’ opening statement to the court. Many thanks to Dr. Van Helsing for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Transcript:

00:01 Mister President, members of this court, public prosecutors.

00:08 Yesterday and the day before yesterday the Dutch parliament debated the 2017 budget.

00:15 Usually, that debate is the highlight of the political year.

00:20 Unlike the leaders of other political parties,

00:23 who are probably only getting out of bed right now,

00:26 I had a second task: to prepare myself for a hearing in criminal court.

00:34 I had to read the papers that my lawyer had prepared for today,

00:37 in order to discuss those with him and prepare my own statement.

00:40 Like the many hours I have spent during months preparing for this dreadful trial.

00:48 I do not hesitate to repeat what I have said before: I have no idea

00:54 what I am doing here. I have no reason to be here in this court.

01:01 What did I do? I asked my voters if they wanted more or fewer Moroccans

01:05 [‘Moroccans’ refers to Dutch people of Moroccan descent, usually male youngsters].

01:09 I didn’t go as far as our Prime Minister.

01:13 I didn’t tell the Moroccans to get lost, as Prime Minister Rutte did,

01:18 several times even. That has been allowed.

01:23 Nor did I say, as Mr. Samson [leader of the Labour Party] did, that Moroccan youth have an

01:27 ethnic monopoly on being nuisances, or that they have to be humiliated, as Mr. Spekman

01:31 [chairman of the Labour Party] did.

01:34 I have not called them names, like Mr. Oudkerk [a former MP for the Labour Party] did,

01:38 who called them ‘s*** Moroccans’.

01:42 I only asked: ‘Do you want more or fewer Moroccans?’ I did not say ‘get lost’,

01:46 ‘s*** Moroccans’ or ‘they need to be humiliated’.

01:49 Nevertheless, I am the one who has to stand trial, and not Prime Minister Rutte, Mr. Samson,

01:54 Mr. Spekman or Mr. Oudkerk. They are not on trial here.

02:00 Undoubtedly, the prosecution will have some sophisticated legal reasoning

02:03 for that distinction, but the people don’t understand this at all.

02:06 Why is it okay to call them ‘s*** Moroccans’, to say ‘get lost’ and ‘humiliate them’,

02:12 but asking the public, your own voters, if they want

02:18 more or fewer Moroccans will land you in criminal court?

02:25 That is strange. I haven’t yet mentioned a former member of the cabinet, Mr. Eurlings,

02:29 a Christian Democrat, a member of the Dutch Olympic Committee,

02:33 who is being charged, according to the newspapers, with physical abuse,

02:37 which is a crime. He doesn’t have to appear in court.

02:43 It is not out of envy that I bring this up, but, according to the newspapers,

02:47 he is spared a criminal trial and he is offered mediation or a fine

02:52 or alternative penalty, without the intervention of a criminal judge.

02:57 Talk about class justice!

03:01 When you are member of the Freedom Party and a member of the opposition,

03:04 and you ask the public a question, you are toast.

03:07 But for a member of the Dutch Olympic Committee, a former cabinet member,

03:11 a Christian Democrat, a Labour Party member or a Prime Minister of the Netherlands,

03:14 there seems to be a much wider margin of tolerance. There are probably legal grounds

03:19 for that distinction, but not a single soul in the Netherlands understands those grounds.

03:22 Could it be that the prosecution is employing a double standard?

03:27 One who challenges the system, a politician

03:31 who is a member of the opposition, does have to stand trial.

03:34 Let me be clear: I believe that what I have said is not a crime.

03:40 Nor would I like to see Mr. Rutte, Mr. Samson, Mr. Spekman and Mr. Oudkerk stand trial.

03:46 I believe that they, too, should be able to speak their minds,

03:49 and that it is right that they have not been tried.

03:52 I cannot understand, however, that I do have to stand trial,

03:56 while they don’t have to. I don’t get it.

04:01 I stand here, as I said last time Mr. President, to represent all those Dutch citizens

04:06 who see their country perish. Do not silence their voices by silencing me, and do not silence me.

04:16 More than 43% of the Dutch population want fewer Moroccans, Mr. President.

04:22 That figure represents millions of people. Four, five or even six million people.

04:29 I wouldn’t say that a large number of people is in itself proof of the soundness of ideas,

04:33 or that ideas couldn’t be criminal, but these people are not racists.

04:36 Those 43% of the populations are not racists. These people aren’t creeps,

04:42 but ordinary people of all walks of life. People from different backgrounds.

04:48 People who pay their taxes, which pay for your salary — and mine too, by the way.

04:54 People who fix your car. People who paint the public prosecutor’s house.

05:00 People who deliver your mail every day, who collect your garbage.

05:06 Just ordinary, regular folks, who are fed up with those who

05:10 create nuisance, the way Moroccan youngsters do.

05:14 What would be the message of this court to all these regular, everyday people,

05:19 these millions of people, if this court doesn’t stop this trial,

05:24 while none of the other people I mentioned before are being prosecuted?

05:29 The people will not understand it. They will see it as a lack of justice,

05:33 and will consider the prosecution dishonest, because it prosecutes some but not others.

05:38 How is it possible to prosecute someone two days after a Supreme Court verdict is given,

05:45 and apply that verdict to statements that were made before the date of that verdict?

05:54 How is this possible? It is a joke, if I may say so.

06:01 For twelve years I have had to live under police protection, day and night.

06:09 I receive death threats from Islamic fanatics, domestic and foreign, among them many Moroccans,

06:14 sadly enough (you can read the many reports I filed with the police).

06:19 Why is that? Because I fight Islam, because I believe Islam

06:23 is incompatible with our laws and our liberty.

06:28 Because I speak freely about Moroccans when there are reasons to do so.

06:32 I feel the urge to speak out and defend our laws. To be an advocate

06:36 for ordinary people. I believe that you should do that too.

06:40 You, too, have the task of defending those people. If you don’t do it for me, do it for them.

06:44 You have the power to do this and to end the charade of this political trial today.

06:54 I never said that all Moroccans should ‘get lost’, unlike our Prime Minister,

06:58 who used those words in relationship to Moroccans — or Turks, I believe.

07:03 I made explicit again and again, after and before the statement that landed me here,

07:08 how we are going to do this and for whom, fewer Moroccans.

07:14 The prosecution takes my statement out of its context.

07:19 The context has been, since I left my former party and started the Freedom Party,

07:24 that I plan to do this by closing the borders for immigrants from Islamic countries.

07:29 This includes Moroccans. That is the way it is.

07:34 I said that I want them to return to their country of origin, voluntarily.

07:38 Convicted criminals with dual citizenship should be stripped of their Dutch citizenship

07:42 after they have served their sentences, and be deported. I told the Prime Minister this

07:48 again this week. It applies of course to criminals from all foreign countries.

07:51 Sweden too, for example, although we don’t have that many criminal Swedes in our country.

07:55 I cannot understand why that is not happening already, regardless of the nationality. I am stunned.

08:00 That is the context of the statement that triggered this trial.

08:03 This context is much bigger than that. It is Dutch society as a whole.

08:07 The reality of today is the context. The fact that non-Western people

08:12 are overrepresented in crime is the context.

08:16 The terror of gangs in our streets, which people suffer day after day, is the context.

08:21 Ordinary people like you and me. Even people more ordinary than you and me, that is the context.

08:26 The wish ‘fewer, fewer, fewer’ is an expression of

08:29 what those millions, 43% of the population, want.

08:32 It is a desire about demographics. Why would such a desire be a crime?

08:39 If that were to be illegal, in what sort of country would we be living in?

08:46 Especially when we are talking about culture, about violence and crime.

08:52 There was a time — and I am sure you know this — that this country had a Prime Minister

08:58 — Mr. Drees [Willem Drees, 1950s] — who aimed to reduce the population of the Dutch.

09:04 The Netherlands was too crowded during his term in office. His government —

09:08 in which the Labour Party took part — actively encouraged

09:12 the emigration of Dutch people. Not immigration but emigration.

09:15 Dutch people were encouraged to leave our country. Many did emigrate,

09:21 helped by the government. Government-organized emigration.

09:27 Many left for Australia, Canada and other countries. I don’t get it that ‘fewer, fewer Dutchmen’

09:32 can be government policy, and is not considered hate speech or discriminatory,

09:38 while ‘fewer, fewer, fewer Moroccans’ is not acceptable.

09:44 It is a demographic desire. Sometimes the desire comes from the government,

09:48 sometimes it comes from politicians. What is wrong about that?

09:52 If you do not end this trial — and you can stop it, Mr. President, members of this court —

09:57 what is the message you send to all those regular,

10:03 hard-working Dutch people who are fed up with crime and nuisance?

10:09 Hardworking people who pay for the welfare benefits for Moroccans.

10:14 The fact is that 25% of this group is on welfare.

10:19 What is your message for teenage girls, who are afraid to be out in public alone?

10:26 Daughters of common, ordinary people. Who are afraid because they are being harassed by

10:30 Moroccan street thugs. It happens every day. I am not making this up. It happens.

10:33 Which message do you send to those people who saw their kids’ bedroom struck by bullets,

10:39 after another shootout by a Moroccan street gang?

10:45 What is your message for the jeweller who went out of business

10:48 after being robbed by Moroccan criminals once too often?

10:51 What is your message for the victims of all those ‘Dutch’ persons who travelled to Syria to fight?

10:57 You might know that 80% of these travellers are of Moroccan descent.

11:04 Your message — if you let this trial proceed — is crystal clear. It says: we will let you down.

11:10 Don’t count on us, the enforcers of the law. Nor count on the bench.

11:17 You cannot say what you think, you cannot say what you feel, but foremost,

11:21 you cannot say what you want to say. We are done with liberty in this country.

11:25 Your message will be: your freedom of speech will be curtailed. It will be sacrificed

11:30 because the truth happens to be unpleasant.

11:36 Because it could be politically incorrect and therefore unbearable.

11:42 And in that case it should not be allowed to be spoken.

11:45 Imagine that you speak the truth and it isn’t convenient!

11:48 Mr. President, the criminal prosecution of people who hold opinions like this

11:53 is beneath the dignity of the Netherlands.

11:58 This has nothing to do with racism, or hate-mongering.

12:03 I don’t judge people by their colour. The word ‘hate’ is unknown to me.

12:11 Millions of Dutch people share my hope that you will end this charade. End this political trial.

12:19 I’ve been elected to do my job as a representative, not to spend half of my time to work with

12:23 lawyers and stand here, even with such competent lawyers.

12:28 I not only hope, but I expect it. Because I refuse to believe, perhaps even against all the odds,

12:34 that in the Netherlands freedom of speech has been abolished when it comes to truth.

12:41 That a member of parliament, especially one of the opposition, unlike a Prime Minister,

12:48 a former cabinet member, or a member of a governing party, is silenced

12:54 by the use of criminal prosecutors — look at them sitting over there!

13:01 Criminal prosecution as a tool of political power.

13:05 That can never be the purpose of the legal system in the Netherlands?!

13:09 I say to you: whatever choice you make, I have no regrets for what I have said.

13:14 Because I spoke the truth. I cannot take back the truth.

13:19 I will take responsibility for my words. Of course, because that is the way it ought to be.

13:25 But I will not be held responsible by you, but by the Dutch people. And with your permission,

13:29 I will do that on March 15, next year. [Date of the next general election.]