Court rejects Wilders' bias accusation against judge
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Anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders says his chances of a fair trial on hate speech charges have evaporated after a court refused to replace a judge he had accused of bias.
Wilders' lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops had argued that one of the three judges in Wilders' ongoing hate speech trial demonstrated bias while questioning a witness on Thursday.
But an independent panel rejected the claim Friday and said the judge, Elianne van Rens, could stay on the case.
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Wilders, who is not attending his trial, has responded in a tweet, calling it a "scandalous decision" and saying that his "chance of a fair trial are now gone."
Wilders is on trial on anti-Moroccan comments he made in 2014. He insists he is innocent.