Rising star of Belgian far right laughs off court-ordered visit to Holocaust museum

A Belgian court has ordered a rising star of the extreme right to take a bespoke tour of a Holocaust memorial museum before facing trial for anti-Semitism, hate speech and firearm offences.

“I am an avid fan of museums and I would also like to visit this museum. It also turns out to be a tour, so all the better", Dries Van Langenhove, 26, said.

Mr Langenhove is the founder of radical far right Flemish youth organisation Schild & Vrienden (Shield and Friends). Members were exposed exchanging racist, sexist and anti-Semitic material online in a documentary aired on Flemish broadcaster VRT last September.

On Tuesday, Mr Langenhove was charged with Holocaust denial, hate speech and breaking a law on carrying a firearm by the proscutors’ office in the city of Ghent after a 6am raid on Monday morning.

The investigating magistrate has ordered Mr Langenhove not to comment on the case and to visit the Dossin barracks in the Flemish city of Mechelen.

The Dossin barracks was the scene for the deportation of thousands of Jews and Roma and now houses a Holocaust museum.

“I understand the signal that the judiciary wants to send with this," museum director Christophe Busch told the De Morgan newspaper.

“That happens on average five to eight times a year. And every time we plan a customised visit. We will do the same for Dries Van Langenhove. "

Mr Langenhove is a newly elected MP for the far right Vlaams Belang party, which wants independence for Belgium's Dutch-speaking region.

Thanks to a youthful makeover and savvy social media campaign targeting young men, it surged to become Belgium’s third largest party in May's elections.

Tom Van Grieken, president of the fiercely Islamophobic Vlaams Belang, branded the charges as “politically motivated” and an attempt at “political intimidation”.

As an MP, Mr Langenhove would normally be immune from prosecution unless Belgium’s federal parliament voted to lift his immunity.

But the charges were laid before he was due to take his oath of office with the rest of Belgium’s newly elected MPs on Thursday.

Socialist and Green MPs have threatened to boycott the ceremony if Mr Langenhove is present.

Under the parliament’s rules he is entitled to act as co-chairman during the swearing of MPs because he is one of the two youngest politicians in the parliament. He has vowed to attend and perform the role.