Frans Timmermans will not be prosecuted for inciting violence against Geert Wilders after the prosecution service decided his conference speech did not constitute a veiled threat.
The PVV leader filed a formal complaint with police after Timmermans vowed to “stop at nothing” to prevent Wilders gaining power in the Netherlands.
Wilders responded with a Tweet asking: “Stop at nothing? Including violence?” and urged his followers to report the GroenLinks-PvdA leader’s statement to police.
But on Monday the prosecution service (OM) said in a statement it would not be charging Timmermans with incitement because the context of his speech made clear he was advocating democratic means.
“Immediately after this statement the party chairman called on the negotiating parties not to form a cabinet with Wilders,” the OM said. “And that GroenLinks-PvdA would take a very hard line in opposition if that was still the outcome.”
Timmermans dismissed Wilders’s police complaint as “nonsense” and said he had received more threats online than usual in the wake of Wilders’s appeal to his supporters to follow suit.
“My means have always been parliamentary and nothing else,” Timmermans said. “I reject any other suggestion wholeheartedly.”
