Without pluralism, tolerance and broad-mindedness, there is no democracy, according to the European Court of Human Rights. In a democratic society, dissenters should be able to live together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means that people should also have the freedom to express their views without the fear of being persecuted for doing so. However, it also means that dissenters and minorities, for example, have the right not to be discriminated against. These rights are two sides of the same coin. A person cannot want the pleasures of democratic society without accepting its burdens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question of how far freedom of expression extends cannot be answered in general terms. It will depend on the case. The ECtHR sees more room for freedom of expression during a debate (in the sense of a discussion between two or more participants). During a heated debate, tempers can run high and, in addition, there is room for a rebuttal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the reasons Wilders was recently convicted is that the challenged remarks about ' less Moroccans' were not made in a debate situation. The court said: \"The utterances were discussed in advance, an inflammatory mode of questioning was chosen and care was taken to ensure the audience scanned the correct answer.\"<\/em>. These were therefore not spontaneous utterances and there was no room for a rebuttal, as in a televised debate, for example. Therefore, Wilders crossed the boundary of freedom of expression on 19 March 2014 and was convicted of group defamation and incitement to discrimination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wilders' claim - via Twitter - that with him half the Netherlands has been condemned is incorrect. In another context, such an opinion would be allowed to be expressed. Wilders could also have chosen to limit himself to a nuanced position on 'criminal Moroccans', as in his election manifesto, or enter the debate in the Lower House. However, he chose a sharp tone, outside any debate, in front of the cameras, for maximum effect and newsworthiness, and thus crossed the line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n No one, including Wilders, should hide behind the right of freedom of speech at any cost. After all, public order in a democratic society may be at stake. Art 137c and d of the Penal Code, which criminalise group insult and incitement to discrimination, are therefore included in the section 'Crimes against public order'. And public order is in a sense disturbed when in a television speech, broadcast nationwide, a minority group in Dutch society is singled out and portrayed as inferior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The court was right to find that Wilders violated the limits of speech. Which group of residents could otherwise take their turn next to be dismissed as inferior in a politician's speech? Wilders will have to proclaim his message without inciting discrimination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n History has taught us the importance of these standards. Wilders' comment via Twitter that these judges are on the \"wrong side of history\" is therefore highly questionable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr D.M. Penn<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Zonder pluralisme, tolerantie en ruimdenkendheid is er geen democratie, aldus het Europees Hof van de Rechten van de Mens. In een democratische maatschappij behoren andersdenkenden samen te kunnen leven. Dat betekent dat mensen ook de vrijheid moeten hebben om hun opvattingen uit te kunnen dragen, zonder de vrees daarvoor vervolgd te worden. Het betekent echter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-strafrecht"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/penn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/penn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/penn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/penn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}