Fines for online hate speech can run into €1,000s

“Insults and incitement to hatred are almost normality in many public comment sections,” Stiftung Warentest wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

In an attached image, the consumer organization – more usually known as the gold standard of reviewing for everything from cars to bank accounts – illustrates a number of examples, along with the fines their authors eventually received.

Someone who wrote that “these vermin deserve to be stoned and shot up against the wall” was fined €1,380 by a German court.

Another user who wrote “I would be for re-opening the gas chambers and shoving the whole brood in there” had to cough up €4,800.

A comment directed at Jews came in for a €5,000 fine, while someone calling for Chancellor Angela Merkel to be “publicly stoned” had to pay €2,000”.

All of the fines outlined by Stiftung Warentest fall short of that handed out to anti-Islam group Pegida’s founder Lutz Bachmann, who was ordered to pay €9,600 for describing refugees as ‘cattle’ and ‘scum’ in Facebook posts.

“Victims of internet hate aren’t powerless,” Stiftung Warentest explained in their post, which contains links to websites for 11 German state police forces where victims of hate can report abusers.

http://www.thelocal.de/20160518/fines-for-online-hate-speech-can-run-into-1000s

 

New Year border checks confirmed for Sweden

Sweden’s centre-left government first announced last week that it wanted to introduce regular ID checks on buses, trains and ferries to cope with record numbers of people travelling to the region to claim asylum. On Wednesday it confirmed that they would be introduced during the first week of 2016.

“The coming spring cannot be like this autumn. We have to reduce the number of asylum seekers. These ID checks are one way of achieving that,” said Morgan Johansson at a press conference on Wednesday

http://www.thelocal.se/20151209/sweden-border-checks-to-start-after-new-years

Teens sentenced for rape in central Stockholm

 The attack took place two months ago at the end of the summer. Stockholm District Court heard that the woman had been sitting crying when two of the teenage boys came and offered her a beer and comforted her.

She said she had declined the alcohol but ended up sitting with the teenagers at a nearby viewpoint looking over the city. At first the atmosphere was calm and she even phoned a friend. But then one of the men gripped her neck, ripped her clothes off and raped her.

http://www.thelocal.se/20151106/teens-sentenced-for-gang-rape-on-hipster-island