Justice
Dries Van Langenhove, together with five others, will appeal against their conviction in the Schild & Friends trial.
Both Dries Van Langenhove and five others are appealing against their conviction in the Schild & Friends trial. The East Flanders public prosecutor’s office confirms this. The public prosecutor’s office is also following the appeal.
In the case involving Schild & Vrienden, Van Langenhove was sentenced on March 12 to 1 year of effective imprisonment for violations of the Racism and Negationism Act and 10 months’ suspended prison sentence for violations of the Weapons Act. He also received a total fine of 24,000 euros.
His right-hand man was given an eight-month deferment and a fine of 8,000 euros. Four other defendants received a suspended prison sentence of six months and an effective fine of 8,000 euros. One person received a suspension of judgment.
Very last moment
Although lawyer Hans Rieder immediately said in an interview after the verdict that he wanted to appeal and Van Langenhove also said so before the verdict – because he believed it would not be a fair trial – he waited until the very last moment to do so. The term expired on Thursday at 12 noon, just before that he filed the appeal, as did five co-defendants.
The public prosecutor’s office, which officially has an extra ten days to file an appeal, also immediately followed the appeal, meaning that the entire case must be taken up again before the Court of Appeal of Ghent.
