Denmark / District Court of Randers

Country

Denmark

Title

Denmark / District Court of Randers

View full Case

Year

2015

Decision/ruling/judgment date

Friday, July 24, 2015

Incident(s) concerned/related

Incitement to violence or hatred

Related Bias motivation

Religion

Groups affected

Muslims

Court/Body type

National Court

Court/Body

District Court of Randers

Key facts of the case

The District Court of Randers found the defendant guilty of incitement to hatred (hate speech). The defendant participated in a debate on
the Facebook page of a Danish newspaper and wrote among other things the following to the victim; "Fuck you, you Quran fascist" and continued with a longer rant.

Main reasoning/argumentation

The District Court found him guilty of incitement to hatred as the statements targeted not only the victim, but Muslim citizens of Arabic descent in general.

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

No key issues can be drawn on the basis of this particular case.

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

Suspended sentence of 20 days with the condition of 40 hours of community service

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

"Byretten lagde vægt på, at udtalelserne var fremsat på Facebook som led i den offentlige debat, og at udtalelserne var rettet både direkte med forurettede men også mere generelt mod en gruppe af personer af arabisk afstamning med muslimsk religion bosat i Danmark og med en anden etnisk oprindelse end dansk"

"The City Court took into account that the statements were posted on Facebook as part of the public debate and they were targeting not only the victim but also more generally a group of persons with Arabic descent and Muslim religion residing in Denmark and with another ethnic origin than Danish."

DISCLAIMERThe information presented here is collected under contract by the FRA's research network FRANET. The information and views contained do not necessarily reflect the views or the official position of the FRA.