Judgment of Regional Court in Białystok, 19th September 2013, No VIII Ka 422/13
- 2013
- Poland
Topics
Right-wing extremismLegal bases
European Convention on Human Rights Poland: Penal Code (Kodeks Karny) (1997)Courts
Regional Court in Białystok, PolandLaws
Freedom of ExpressionFacts
Mr. XX1, Mr. XX2, Mr. XX3, Mr. XX4, and Mr. XX5, Mr. XX6, Mr. XX7, Mr. XX8 and Mr. XX9 were accused with the fact that on 4th September 2011, acting jointly and in consultation with other unidentified persons publicly incited to hatred on the basis of national differences in this the way that during a public assembly organized to express a protest against acts of vandalism and desecration against national minorities taking place in the voivodship, they raised the slogan "I am not sorry for Jedwabne" which constitutes a crime under art. 256 of the Penal Code. By a judgment of the District Court of March 8, 2013, the accused were convicted of inciting to hatred. Though the defendants appealed to the regional court, indicating that they were not intended to incite to hatred and insult anyone, and the slogans "I'm not sorry for Jedwabne" were only spoken for expressing their views - "freedom of speech is in Poland and everyone should have the right to express my views (...) chanting the slogan, "I am not apologizing for Jedwabne", because I think Poles should not apologize for it, I'm interested in history and I read a lot about the murder in Jedwabne – I know that the Germans made the Poles forced the population to use violence towards Jews (...) so I think that nobody should apologize for Jedwabne on his behalf or on behalf of Poland and Poles".
Legal grounds
Article 256 of the Polish Penal Code; Article 10§1 & Article 10§2 of the ECHR.
Findings
The Regional Court dismissed all appeals, stressing that they were based on the subjective conviction that the evidence collected in the case did not give grounds for assuming that the defendants had committed the offense assigned to them. The defendants filed an explanation in the court proceedings after playing the recordings containing the course of the manifestation and did not question that they were in the group of men shouting, "I'm not sorry for Jedwabne", however, in their opinion, such cries were not an act of aggression and hatred towards anyone. The Regional Court agreed with the District Court, which referred to the findings' investigations of the Institute of National Remembrance, which show that Poles, inspired by the Germans on 10 July 1941 during the Nazi occupation of Poland, took active part in murdering at least 340 people of Jewish nationality – the inhabitants of Jedwabne. Both courts considered that the disruption of the anti-racist demonstration by the defendants is not an isolated outburst of young people but takes on a deeper meaning that reflects the racist and anti-Semitic views of this group (or some subculture), thus creating a climate that may disturb the local multicultural society. In this social and general public context, there is a basis for recognizing the slogan "I am not sorry for Jedwabne", as one of the manifestations of hatred on the background of national and racial differences. The Regional Court based its judgment on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and on the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as on the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Garaudy v. France (no. 65831/01), 2003, according to which denying crimes against humanity was one of the most serious forms of racial defamation of Jews and of incitement to hatred of them.