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Belgium Tribunal of First Instance of Gent(Rechtbank van Eerste Aanleg te Gent), 2016 Belgium / Tribunal of First Instance of Gent Race/Ethnicity Third country nationals In 2016, the Tribunal of Gent convicted a person for incitement to hatred. After fighting with a Somalian man, the accused shouted various racist insults such as "dirty black" and "go back to your country" while the Somalian man was describing his account of the event to a policeman. The tribunal considered that the accused clearly had the intent to incite bystanders to violence and hatred towards the victim. View more
Belgium Tribunal of First Instance of East-Flanders section Gent (Rechtbank van eerste aanleg Oost-Vlanderen afdeling Gent) 2015 Belgium / Tribunal of First Instance of East-Flanders section Gent/ GE56.L2.3657/14/sw3 Religion Muslims In 2015, the Tribunal of Gent convicted a man for harassment and discrimination because he ordered and distributed flyers, the painting of slogans on the road, and the hanging up of posters with discriminatory messages such as "STOP ISLAM", "NO JIHAD IN OUR STREET" and "STOP THE RITUAL HALAL SLAUGHTER = 100% BARBARIC". The defendant invoked his freedom of expression, but the Tribunal argued that such freedom is limited by the respect of the constitutional freedoms… View more
Belgium Tribunal of First Instance of Brussels (Tribunal de première instance de Bruxelles) 2016 Belgium / Tribunal of First Instance of Brussels Nationality Third country nationals In 2016, the Tribunal of Brussels convicted a person for incitement to hatred and violence based on the victim's nationality. The accused had posted public messages on Facebook containing racist insults towards the Turkish victim and her son and calling for her murder. The Tribunal considered that mere insults do not constitute incitement to hatred; however, in this case, the call for murder demonstrated there was an intent to incite violence. View more
Belgium Tribunal of First Instance of Brugge (Rechtbank van Eerste Aanleg te Brugge) 2015 Belgium / Tribunal of First Instance of Brugge / BG43.L5.5987-12 -DJ Race/Ethnicity, Race/Ethnicity Migrants In 2015, the Tribunal of Bruges convicted a person for incitement to hatred based on the victim's ethnic origin. The victim, a migrant, was assaulted by two men and racially insulted by a third person. On the basis of the police report of the incident, the Tribunal considered that the accused intended to incite hatred. View more
Belgium Luxembourg Criminal Court (Tribunal correctionnel du Luxembourg) 2020 Belgium / Tribunal correctionnel du Luxembourg / Trib.corr.Lux., 22-10-2020 Race/Ethnicity Muslims The case concerns online incitement to hatred and violence. More concretely, it concerns two individuals who were responsible for a website and a Facebook group related to an identarian group from the Ardennes region. In these online platforms, multiple texts or images inciting to hatred or violence against Muslims were published. View more
Belgium Brussels Criminal Court (Tribunal correctionnel Bruxelles) 2021 Belgium / Tribunal correctionnel Bruxelles / Trib.corr.Bxl. , 29-06-2021 Religion Muslims The case concerns a woman who posted and shared multiple hate messages targeting the Muslim community, including calling for the eradication of Islam. View more
Belgium Ghent Court of Appeal (Hof van Beroep Gent) 2021 Belgium / Hof van Beroep Gent / Gand, 24-06-2021 Religion Muslims The case concerns discriminatory rules applied in a municipal pool that forbid the use of swimwear that covers the entire body (burqini). It was brought by a woman who was prevented from using the pool because of her swimwear. View more
Belgium European Court of Human Rights, ECHR 2017 Belgium / ECtHR / Application no. 4619/12 / Dakir v. Belgium Religion Muslims The case concerned a by-law adopted in June 2008 by three Belgian municipalities (Pepinster, Dison and Verviers) concerning a ban on the wearing in public places of clothing that conceals the face. In August 2008, Ms Dakir, presenting herself as a Muslim who had decided on her own initiative to wear the niqab applied to the Conseil d’État (Council of State) for the annulment of the ban. She claimed, among other things, that the provision expressly concerned the Islamic clothing worn by her and… View more
Belgium European Court of Human Rights, ECHR 2017 Belgium / ECtHR / Application no. 37798/13 / Judgement / Belcacemi and Oussar v. Belgium Religion Muslims The case concerned the ban on the wearing in public of clothing that partly or totally covers the face. Ms Belcacemi and Ms Oussar present themselves as Muslims who have decided on their own initiative to wear the niqab on account of their religious convictions. On 26 July 2011, Ms Belcacemi and Ms Oussar brought actions for the suspension and annulment of the law before the Constitutional Court. Their cases were dismissed by that court. View more
Belgium European Court of Human Rights, ECHR 2017 Belgium / ECtHR / Application no. 34367/14 / Belkacem v. Belgium Religion Other religious groups, Muslims The case concerned the conviction of Mr Belkacem, the leader and spokesperson of the organisation “Sharia4Belgium”, which was dissolved in 2012, for incitement to discrimination, hatred and violence on account of remarks he made in YouTube videos concerning non-Muslim groups and Sharia. The Court noted that in his remarks he had called on viewers to overpower non-Muslims, teach them a lesson and fight them. The Court considered that the remarks in question had a markedly hateful content and… View more
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