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Wilders lawyer accused of subterfuge during trial

The lawyer for Geert Wilders has been accused of using “subterfuge” by employing a former court official during the politican’s discrimination trial.

The president of the Amsterdam court claimed that a former clerk had asked her ex-colleagues about Wilders’s case files after she had applied to work with his lawyer, Bram Moszkowicz.

Moszkowicz reacted furiously to the claims in De Telegraaf and said he was considering taking action.

The Dutch Faculty of Advocates (Orde van Advocaten) has said it will investigate the accusations.

A spokesman for the faculty said: "The court simply wants to know how things stand with this clerk. Instead of calmly talking over a possible misunderstanding, Mr Moszkowicz has elected to react indignantly and go to the media."

Wilders was cleared of charges of inciting hatred and discrimination in June following an eventful, high-profile trial.

The Freedom Party (PVV) leader claimed he was defending the principle of freedom of speech, but minority organizations who brought the case said his words were damaging to Muslims and minority ethnic groups.

The charges related to a series of public statements by Wilders attacking Islam, which he called an “ideology of hate and destruction”, as well as his controversial film Fitna.

The court decided that although some of Wilders’s statements were crude and derogatory, they fell within the accepted boundaries of public debate.

During the trial Moszkowicz accused one of the judges in the case, Ton Schalken, of trying to influence an expert witness at a private dinner.

Schalken, who was questioned in court for several hours about the meeting before being cleared of wrongdoing, later resigned, claiming he had been made a scapegoat by Wilders and Moszkowicz.

Source: De Telegraaf: Oorlog om vermeende spionage Moszkowicz

Photo by Roel Wijnants