Belgium / Court of First Instance of Dinant / X. and the public prosecution v. X

Country

Belgium

Title

Belgium / Court of First Instance of Dinant / X. and the public prosecution v. X

View full Case

Year

2013

Decision/ruling/judgment date

Thursday, February 07, 2013

Incident(s) concerned/related

Violence

Related Bias motivation

Race/Ethnicity

Groups affected

Black people or of African origin
Migrants
Third country nationals

Court/Body type

National Court

Court/Body

Court of First Instance (Tribunal de première instance de Dinant)

Key facts of the case

The case concerns physical violence with racist motives. In 2009, the defendants, who had been drinking, physically assaulted a person on the basis of ethnic origin. They were charged with intentional infliction of personal injury motivated by racism.

Main reasoning/argumentation

The Court found that the police reports sufficiently proved that the defendants had inflicted intentional injury with racist motives.

Is the case related to the application of the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia, the Racial Equality Directive?

Key issues (concepts, interpretations) clarified by the case

Results (sanctions, outcome) and key consequences or implications of the case

The defendants were given a prison sentence of 3 months (which was suspended) and had to pay 150 Euro to the Fund for Aid to Victims of Intentional Acts of Violence (Fonds spécial d'aide aux victimes d'actes intentionnels de violence). The victim (who was a civil party to the proceedings) was awarded 500 Euro in damages.

Key quotation in original language and its unofficial translation into English with reference details

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