Minister: no prosecution Baudet for apps, Chamber can decide differently

Minister of Justice Yesilgöz will not prosecute Forum for Democracy leader Baudet, against whom there is a complaint for sending racist and anti-Semitic WhatsApp messages. In doing so, the minister is following an advice from the Attorney General at the Supreme Court, she writes to the House of Representatives.

The apps came to the public in February last year, when weekly newspaper THAT ONE wrote about it. The magazine published screenshots of conversations in closed app groups of Forum members. The Attorney General investigated whether the matter should lead to prosecution, but sees no indications for this because group insult is only punishable if the statements are made in public.

Public

The politician made his comments in closed app groups “of limited size that included (candidate) MPs and employees of Forum for Democracy”. concludes the Attorney General. According to him, there are also no indications that it was Baudet’s intention to make these comments publicly.

MPs and other politicians must be tried by the Supreme Court after any misconduct. To this end, a Prosecutor General first conducts an exploratory investigation and submits his findings to the Minister. It is up to the government or the House of Representatives to order criminal prosecution. Yesilgöz does not do that, but points out that the House can still decide this.

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