Netherlands / Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) (2019), Case no. 17/05728, 3 December 2019, ECLI:NL:HR:2019:1816, available at: http://deeplink.rechtspraak.nl/uitspraak?id=ECLI:NL:HR:2019:1816

Country

Netherlands

Title

Netherlands / Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) (2019), Case no. 17/05728, 3 December 2019, ECLI:NL:HR:2019:1816, available at: http://deeplink.rechtspraak.nl/uitspraak?id=ECLI:NL:HR:2019:1816

View full Case

Year

2019

Decision/ruling/judgment date

Thursday, December 03, 2020

Incident(s) concerned/related

Other forms of hate speech

Related Bias motivation

Religion

Groups affected

Muslims

Court/Body type

National Court

Court/Body

Supreme Court (Hoge Raad)

Key facts of the case

A Christian preacher with the American nationality made in public in the centre of the city of Eindhoven several anti-Muslims statements in the English language, like "Moslims are bad”, “Moslims are terrorists” and “All Moslims will go to hell”. In this ruling the Supreme court confirms the ruling by the Court of Appeal of 's-Hertogenbosch on 22 November 2017 which convicted the preacher for group insult for making the statement “Moslims are terrorists” under article 137c of the Dutch Criminal Code.

Main reasoning/argumentation

By making the statement "Moslims are terrorists" in public a Christian preacher insulted Muslims and is criminal under article 137c of the Dutch Criminal Code which criminalizes group insult on the ground of race and religion.

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

The statement "Muslims are terrorists" made in public insults Muslims as a group and does not contribute in any way to a public debate and cannot be seen as an expression of a belief or of artistic intentions. So it is criminal under article 137c of the Dutch Criminal Code.

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

By making the statement "Moslims are terrorists" in public a Christian preacher insulted Muslims and was convicted by the Court of Appeal under article 137c of the Dutch Criminal Code which criminalizes group insult. In this ruling the Supreme Court confirms this ruling by the Court of Appeal.

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

“Het Hof heeft geoordeeld dat de in de bewezenverklaring weergegeven uitlating op zichzelf beschouwd beledigend is in de zin van art. 137c Sr. Daarbij heeft het in aanmerking genomen dat de uitlating “Moslims are terrorists” de strekking heeft moslims bij het publiek in een kwaad daglicht te stellen en hen als groep te treffen. Dit oordeel - dat het Hof heeft geplaatst tegen de achtergrond van het hiervoor weergegeven kader - geeft niet blijk van een onjuiste rechtsopvatting en is toereikend gemotiveerd.”

“The Court of Appeal has ruled that the statement in question constitutes an insult on basis 137c Sr of the Criminal Code. In doing so, the court has considered that the intention of the statement “Muslims are terrorists” is to put Muslims in a bad light and to target them as a group. This ruling by the Courts constitutes not an error of law and is sufficiently reasoned. Insofar as the plea complains, it fails.”

The Netherlands, Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) (2019), Case no. 17/05728, 3 December 2019, ECLI:NL:HR:2019:1816, available at: http://deeplink.rechtspraak.nl/uitspraak?id=ECLI:NL:HR:2019:1816

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