Netherlands / District Court Amsterdam / Case no.659113-17, ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2019:34

Country

Netherlands

Title

Netherlands / District Court Amsterdam / Case no.659113-17, ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2019:34

View full Case

Year

2019

Decision/ruling/judgment date

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Incident(s) concerned/related

Other forms of hate speech

Related Bias motivation

Race/Ethnicity
Race/Ethnicity

Groups affected

Black people or of African origin

Court/Body type

National Court

Court/Body

District Court AmsterdamI

Key facts of the case

A man made a website and placed on this website racist statements in both Dutch and English. Examples of these statements are: “Only inferior White women date outside of their race. Be proud of your heritage, don’t be a race mixing slut” ; “racial mixing is the worst crime” ; “Stop White Genocide” ; “Is you disobey the seventh commandment, commit adultery (mongrelize with a non-white) and conception takes place, the child is a mongrel (bastard). He is impure, imperfect and inferior physically, mentally and is an abomination in the eyes of god. Because the offspring is a non-white mongrel”. The man placed also antisemitic statements on the we website. He was charged with group insult on basis of article 137c of the Dutch Criminal Code The court deemed the statements the man had made unnecessarily hurtful for people of African descent and Jewish people and therefore punishable and convicted him on the charge of incitement to racial discrimination and hatred(under Article 137d of the Dutch Criminal Code) and on the charge of insulting a group of people because of their race (under Article 137c of the Dutch Criminal Code) to 120 hours community service..

Main reasoning/argumentation

Insulting a group because of their race or inciting discrimination against a people because of their race are punishable under Dutch law criminal law. Offensive statement about persons of mixed and African origin which are insulting to these groups because of their race and incite to racial discrimination are criminal law even when made in debate on (supposed) demographic changes in society.

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

Placing statements on a website about racial groups which are very insulting and which qualify these racial groups as inferior are punishable under Dutch criminal law even if the defendant has the intention of making these statements as part of a public debate.

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

A man who made created a website on which he placed insulting statements about people of African origin and Jewish people was convicted under Dutch criminal law and must do 120 hours of community service as punishment.

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

"De rechtbank acht het met name zeer kwalijk dat verdachte op zijn website personen van gemengde en negroïde afkomst met zeer denigrerende kwalificaties aanduidt als gedegenereerd en inferieur en dat hij een bijdrage heeft geleverd aan een verwerpelijke traditie waarin Joden verantwoordelijk worden gehouden voor vermeende misstanden in de samenleving. Verdachte heeft zich daarmee uiterst kwetsend uitgelaten over deze groepen mensen en heeft deze groepen daarmee beledigd. Het krenken van anderen vanwege onder andere hun ras – kortom het wezen van een persoon – is onacceptabel. Het wekt bovendien ook beroering in de samenleving en druist in tegen de in die samenleving gerespecteerde normen en waarden. In Nederland moet iedereen, ongeacht zijn etnische afkomst, van de zich hem toekomende burgerrechten kunnen genieten en zich veilig kunnen voelen. Het debat over (veronderstelde) demografische veranderingen in de samenleving en geloofsovertuiging mag bestaan, mits dit met respect en zonder onnodig grievende en onware verwijzingen wordt gevoerd."

"The District Court finds it very objectionable that the defendant on his website refers to persons of mixed and Negroid origin with very derogatory qualifications as degenerated and inferior and that he has contributed to a reprehensible tradition in which Jews are held responsible for alleged abuses in society. By doing so, the defendant has made extremely offensive statements about these groups and has insulted these groups.
Hurting others because of their race - in other words, the essence of a person - is unacceptable. It also causes social unrest and runs counter to the norms and values respected in that society. In the Netherlands, everyone, regardless of their ethnic origin, must be able to enjoy the civil rights to which they are entitled and to feel safe. The debate on (supposed) demographic changes in society and religious beliefs may exist, provided it is conducted with respect and without unnecessarily hurtful and untrue references."

The Netherlands, District Court Amsterdam (Rechtbank Amsterdam) (2019), Case no. 13/659113-17 , 15 May 2019, ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2019:3481, available at: https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/inziendocument?id=ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2019:…

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