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New trial for Wilders on hate speech allegations
Feb 7, 2011, 10:11 GMT
Amsterdam - Dutch politician Geert Wilders went on trial again Monday over allegations he incited hatred of Muslims.
A previous trial on the same charges collapsed in October after a judicial review found the judges were not impartial.
Monday's proceedings, which dealt with technical issues, were held under a new panel of judges.
The head of the populist Party for Freedom faces charges of discrimination and incitement, based on interviews he gave in which he described Islam as a fascist ideology and compared the Koran to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.
Detractors have also pointed to his movie, Fitna, in which he juxtaposed images of the Koran with the 2001 terror attacks on New York City.
Wilders' lawyer Bram Moszkowicz claims the controversial remarks against Islam were legitimate under the Dutch rules governing freedom of speech.
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