Dutch court OKs 'pedophile' political party
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- A Dutch court refused Monday to ban a political party whose main goal is to lower the age of sexual consent from 16 to 12. The judge said it was the voters' right to judge the appeal of political parties. The party has only three known members, one of whom was convicted of molesting an 11-year-old boy in 1987. Widely dubbed the "pedophile" party, it is unlikely ever to win a seat in parliament. The group would need around 60,000 votes, and pollsters estimate it would get fewer than 1,000.
Anke de Wijn, an attorney representing the party's opponents, said the group was abusing Dutch tolerance. "Victims feel hurt by the wish of pedophiles to make their desires known in public," De Wijn said. "There are few limitations on free speech, and that's good, but this group is making misuse of the privilege, to provoke." Ireen van Engelen of the Solace Foundation, which researches pedophilia, said the party likely would fail to register for the elections because pedophiles seek anonymity. "They will never want to connect their name to the party and without the signatures they can't go in the elections," she said. Note EU-Digest: the motivation by the Dutch judge not to ban the pedophile party seems to be just as deranged as the goals of the pedophile party.
No comments:
Post a Comment