His big bleach-blond mane was unmistakable, but this time his mouth, the biggest in Dutch politics, stayed shut. Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigrant Freedom Party, is on trial for incitement to hatred and discrimination against Muslims. But when he appeared before judges in Amsterdam on October 4th, this champion of free speech declined to speak.rnThe court heard some of Mr Wilders's greatest hits: "the Koran is the 'Mein Kampf' of a religion that intends to eliminate others" (2007); "Islam wants to control, subdue and is out for the destruction of our Western civilisation" (2008); a Koran stripped of its hateful verses, "should actually have the format of a Donald Duck [comic book]" (2007, again).
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