Activist files terrorism allegations against Covid denier

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Activist Norbert Dikkeboom has filed charges of incitement, fraud, medical disinformation and reporting with terrorist intent against Willem Engel, the head of the anti-coronavirus group Viruswaarheid. More than 22,000 people have joined the case and filed complaints against Engel, reports NOS.

According to Dikkeboom, Engel made statements intended to sow fear and destabilize political and social structures. He considers this to be terrorism. Engel is guilty of this almost every day by describing the government as a “regime” and by pointing out that politicians should be condemned “and so on” for what they do during this time, Dikkeboom said.

Dikkeboom disagrees with people who say Engel should just be ignored. “He repeats his words and statements, which are usually lies, so often that there is a large group of people in the Netherlands who think: if he says it so often, there must be some truth there -in it, ”he told NSA. And it can be dangerous, Dikkeboom said, referring to Engel’s recommendations on what drugs to take for Covid-19. “Maybe you have time to jump in.”

Engel also filed a lawsuit against Dikkeboom, accusing him of libel, slander and hate speech.

Criminal defense attorney Luuk Arends told NOS it would be difficult to prosecute Engel on the basis of these charges. “For incitement you have to incite a criminal offense or an act of violence, and that seems difficult to prove here.” Engel will likely invoke freedom of speech, which he says is hard to challenge.

Engel will appear in court next week on incitement to violence based on a Facebook post in October last year. He wrote: “Yes, then we may have to put police officers under arrest by citizens because they are holding us hostage.” According to the prosecution, this is incitement against public authorities.

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