The owner and manager of a bar in the centre of the Flemish Brabant city of Leuven have been convicted of spreading "racist and xenophobic" images on screens at the bar last summer. Both have been sentenced to 6 months in prison.
Owner and manager of Leuven bar given 6-month prison sentence for "racist and xenophobic memes"
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In addition to the 6-month prison sentence the two have been fined 4,000 euro. During an event held at Café Picasso on the Ladeuzeplein in Leuven last summer several racist and xenophobic memes were projected onto advertising screens on the exterior façade of the bar.
Members of the far-left party PVDA spotted the memes. Two members of the report reported them to the police and the case eventually ended up at the Leuven criminal court.
The accused did not deny having projected the memes onto the advertising screens. They asked to be aquitted as they believed that the memes did not break the law. "We projected the memes on the screens to provide a change from the more boring advertising and to keep our customers' interest." The cafe owner also told the court that "We poked fun at everyone, but nowadays you are apparently only allowed to make jokes about well behaved white people."
The accused were only convicted for the memes that were discriminatory on the basis of race or ethnicity. The Criminal Court is not competent to judge or pass sentence on material that is homophobic or transphobic.
The judge ruled that the memes were offensive and stigmatising. Furthermore, they had been projected in a public area. "Due to the long criminal record of the two defendants, the court has deemed a prison sentence of six months and a fine of 4,000 euros to be appropriate”, the Judge said.