A court in Switzerland sentenced a writer to 60 days in jail for defaming a journalist as a "fat lesbian."
The Lausanne court sentenced French-Swiss polemicist Alain Bonnet, who goes by Alain Soral, for the crimes of defamation, discrimination, and incitement to hatred. He was ordered to pay legal fees and fines totaling thousands of Swiss francs in addition to the time behind bars, Breitbart reported.
In a Facebook video two years ago, Soral poked scorn at Catherine Macherel, a journalist for Swiss newspapers Tribune de Geneve and 24 Heures, calling her a "fat lesbian," and said Macherel's work as a "queer activist" meant she was "unhinged," according to Swiss public broadcaster RTS.
"This court decision is an important moment for justice and rights of LGBTQI people in Switzerland," said Murial Waeger, co-director of the lesbian activist group LOS, in a statement. "The conviction of Alain Soral is a strong signal that homophobic hatred cannot be tolerated in our society."
Waeger said the verdict represented a milestone in the application of a measure approved by Swiss voters in 2020, making it illegal to discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation.
Soral was also convicted repeatedly in France and sentenced to jail time in 2019 for denying the Holocaust, which is a crime in France, Breitbart reported.
In an email Tuesday to The Associated Press, Pascal Junod, a lawyer for Soral, lambasted the conviction for a "crime of opinion" and said the case aimed to probe whether a person had "sinned against the dogmas of single thought." Soral will appeal to Swiss federal court and "if necessary" to the European Court of Human Rights, the lawyer wrote.
Peter Malbin ✉
Peter Malbin, a Newsmax writer, covers news and politics. He has 30 years of news experience, including for the New York Times, New York Post and Newsweek.com.
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