A journalist who was referred to as a "fat lesbian" by a Swiss writer and political commentator has been given a 60-day prison sentence and hundreds of dollars in fines. Read full article
This Thursday, the Lausanne Court handed down a judgement for the defamation, discrimination, and incitement to hatred offences committed by French-Swiss polemicist Alain Bonnet, also known by his pen name Alain Soral.
In addition to doing time in jail, he was also required to pay thousands of Swiss francs worth of fines and legal fees.
In a Facebook video from two years ago, Soral attacked Catherine Macherel, a reporter for the Swiss publications Tribune de Geneve and 24 Heures.
According to Swiss public television RTS, he labelled her a "fat lesbian" and claimed Macherel's work as a "queer activist" indicated that she was "unhinged."
Following the court's judgement, campaigners for LGBTQ+ rights hailed the verdict.
In a statement, Murial Waeger, co-director of the lesbian activist organisation LOS, stated that the court's ruling was a significant development for the rights and justice of LGBTQI persons in Switzerland.
Alain Soral's conviction sends a powerful message that homophobic hatred is intolerable in our society.
The defence attorney for Soral, Pascal Junod, condemned the conviction for a "crime of opinion" and claimed that the case was intended to determine whether or not someone had "sinned against the dogmas of single thought."
According to the attorney's letter, Soral will appeal to the Swiss Federal Court and, "if necessary," to the European Court of Human Rights.
#bendelnews #usa #Holywood
