Dutch authorities will file charges against a lawmaker for inciting religious hatred in speeches and a film he made about Islam last year, an Amsterdam district prosecutor told CNN Wednesday.
Prosecutors had originally decided not to press charges against Geert Wilders, 43, a member of parliament for the right-wing Party for Freedom.
"We thought a conviction would not be possible," prosecutor Otto Van Der Bijl told CNN. But nine people filed complaints with the Court of Appeal, he said. The court found there was a "reasonable suspicion that Mr. Wilders is guilty of the charges and the prosecution should in fact proceed."
Wilders blasted the court decision as "an all-out assault on freedom of speech," in a statement posted on his party's Web site.
"Apparently this is the Netherlands today. If you speak out you might be prosecuted. To participate in public debate has become a dangerous activity," he said in the statement, which also called for donations to the party to help him fight the charges in court.