A court in Switzerland fined and sentenced a writer and pundit to 60 days in jail for calling a journalist a “fat lesbian,” alarming free speech advocates across the globe.
On Monday, controversial French-Swiss polemicist Alain Bonnet, who goes by Alain Soral and is a noted Holocaust denier, was sentenced by the Lausanne court for the crimes of defamation, discrimination and incitement to hatred after he criticized Catherine Macherel, a journalist for Swiss newspapers Tribune de Geneve and 24 Heures, in a Facebook video two years ago.
The story caught the attention of numerous U.S. outlets and alarmed some stateside free speech advocates.
“Governments will say, ‘We have freedom of speech.’ Sadly, what’s happening worldwide is growing sentiment that there’s not always freedom after speech,” crisis and reputation expert Robbie Vorhaus told Fox News Digital.
Alain Soral, center, leaves the courthouse after his appeal trial for homophobia against a journalist in Lausanne, Switzerland, Wednesday, September 27, 2023.
Soral is no stranger to controversy and has also been repeatedly convicted in France for denying the Holocaust, which is a crime in the country. He was sentenced to jail time in 2019 over the denials.
His latest sentencing – which puts a harsh spotlight on countries that do not have First Amendment-like protections on free speech – came after he called Macherel a “fat lesbian” and criticized her work as a “queer activist.” Soral also said she was “unhinged” in a social media video, according to Swiss public broadcaster RTS.
“What’s Killing America” author Jason Rantz fears similar punishments would come to the United States if the far-left has anything to do with it.
nypost.com/2023/10/04/swiss-writer-who-called-journalist-fat-lesbian-sentenced-to-60-days-in-prison/
www.foxnews.com/media/swiss-writer-jailed-insulting-lesbian-journalist-alarms-free-speech-advocates
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