Dutch MP acquitted in 'hate' trial

An Amsterdam court Thursday acquitted Dutch far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders on charges of hate speech and discrimination for statements he made attacking Islam. "You are being acquitted on all the charges that were put against you," Judge Marcel van Oosten told Wilders. "The bench finds that your statements are acceptable within the context of the public debate," Judge van Oosten told Wilders, 47, who has been on trial in the Amsterdam regional court since last October. The flamboyant MP faced five counts of hate speech and discrimination for his anti-Islamic remarks on websites, Internet forums and in Dutch newspapers between October 2006 and March 2008, and in his controversial 17-minute movie "Fitna" ("Discord" in Arabic).