The Netherlands, Court of Appeal 's-Hertogenbosch (Gerechtshof 's-Hertogenbosch) (2021), Case no. 20-003807-17, ECLI:NL:GHSHE:2021:3287, 4 May 2021.

Country

Netherlands

Title

The Netherlands, Court of Appeal 's-Hertogenbosch (Gerechtshof 's-Hertogenbosch) (2021), Case no. 20-003807-17, ECLI:NL:GHSHE:2021:3287, 4 May 2021.

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Year

2021

Decision/ruling/judgment date

Tuesday, May 04, 2021

Incident(s) concerned/related

Other forms of hate speech

Related Bias motivation

Race/Ethnicity

Groups affected

Muslims

Court/Body type

National Court

Court/Body

Court of Appeal 's-Hertogenbosch (Gerechtshof 's-Hertogenbosch)

Key facts of the case

This case concerns a street-cleaner of Sudanese descent who was insulted by a man. It happened in 2015. The street-cleaner saw a man standing under the subway of a shopping centre. The man smashed a beer bottle. The street-cleaner walked up to the man in response, to clean the bottle and the mess immediately. The man shouted at the street-cleaner, "black ape that you are, go back to your country" and "Muslims should go back to the IS", as well as "all blacks should back to Africa". The Court of Appeal found the man guilty of group insult.

Main reasoning/argumentation

By making statements like "all blacks must go back to Africa", as well as "Muslims must go back to the IS" the accused deliberately insulted a group of people, namely Muslims and/or persons of Arabic, Turkish, Moroccan and/or Sudanese origin, because of their race and/or religion. That is criminal behaviour under article 137c of the Dutch Criminal Code.

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

Statements like “black ape that you are, go back to your country" and "Muslims should go back to the IS", as well as "all blacks should back to Africa" are punishable under article 137c of the Dutch criminal code that criminalizes group insult on the grounds of religion or race.

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

The accused was found guilty of verbally and deliberately insulting a group of people in public because of their race and religion (under article 137c of the Dutch Criminal Code). The accused was also found guilty of threat, damaging property and theft. For all this he was convicted to 28 days imprisonment.

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

"De verdachte heeft de volgende uitlatingen gedaan: "alle zwarten moeten terug naar Afrika", alsmede "moslims moeten terug naar de IS". Het hof is van oordeel dat deze uitlatingen zich richten tot personen die niet wit zijn. Met deze uitspraken wordt – mede door de hierboven beschreven context waarin de uitlatingen zijn gedaan – duidelijk gemaakt dat personen van niet-Nederlandse afkomst, personen met een donkere huidskleur en/of moslims in het bijzonder niet welkom zijn. Immers, "alle zwarten moeten terug naar Afrika" en "moslims moeten terug naar de IS". Hun eigenwaarde wordt hierdoor aangetast en zij worden in verband met hun ras en/of godsdienst bij het publiek in een kwaad daglicht gesteld hetgeen beledigend is." "The accused made the following statements: "all blacks must go back to Africa", as well as "Muslims must go back to the IS". The court is of the opinion that these statements were addressed to persons who are not white. These statements - partly because of the context in which the statements were made - makes it clear that persons of non-Dutch origin, dark-skinned persons and/or Muslims in particular are not welcome. After all, "all blacks must go back to Africa" and "Muslims must go back to the IS". Their self-esteem is affected by this and they are portrayed in the public's eye in relation to their race and/or religion in a bad light which is offensive." The Netherlands, Court of Appeal 's-Hertogenbosch (Gerechtshof 's-Hertogenbosch) (2021), Case no. 20-003807-17, ECLI:NL:GHSHE:2021:3287, 4 May 2021.

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