An appeals panel at the Amsterdam District Court today ordered judges in the trial of MP Geert Wilders to step down, agreeing with Wilders’ lawyers that the judges were biased.
The bad news is that Wilders might have to endure a second trial, with new judges:
Geert-Jan Alexander Knoops, an international criminal law professor at Utrecht University, told Reuters that the ruling meant there would be new judges and a new date.
“This means that the trial has to start all over again. Not the investigation phase, but the court sessions as the new judges will not have been present at the hearings,” he said.
Not clear at this point whether Dutch prosecutors have the discretion to opt not to retry the case, especially in light of their recent recommendation that Wilders be found not guilty on all charges.