This conviction of Dries Van Langenhove should not be underestimated: anyone who receives a sentence of more than six months must, in principle, also serve it in prison. It has been that way since September. For a long time, sentences under three years were not carried out or were carried out in a different form, but this has changed quite recently.
An appeal is still possible in this process, and Van Langenhove’s lawyer immediately announced that he would make use of this. Whether he will actually spend time in prison will depend on the sentence on appeal.
Anyone who receives a prison sentence can also ask a judge who decides on the execution of the sentence to carry it out in whole or in part outside prison. In any case, you will first have to pass by the prison and perhaps stay there temporarily.
Symbolic charge
An effective prison sentence for racism and negationism such as Van Langenhove received today does not happen very often. That gives an extra symbolic load to this case, which was already under the magnifying glass.
In addition to the one-year effective prison sentence and the 16,000 euro fine for violations of the Racism and Negationism Act, Van Langenhove also receives a ten-month suspended prison sentence for violations of the Weapons Act. The leader of Schild & Friends is also deprived of his political rights for a maximum term of ten years. “This should encourage the defendant to repent and realize that his behavior is unacceptable and can never be repeated,” the Ghent court said.
Other members ‘got carried away’
According to the judge, the other members of Schild & Friends ‘allowed themselves to be carried away by Van Langenhove’s criminal behavior’. They received suspended sentences, supplemented with fines. A second defendant was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence of eight months and an effective fine of 8,000 euros. Four other defendants were sentenced to a suspended prison sentence of six months, also with a fine of 8,000 euros (half of which was suspended).
The bourgeois parties finally got it damages from 500 euros (Henri Heimans, Unia, and Ghent University) to one euro of provisional compensation (Jihad Van Puymbroeck and League for Human Rights).
Hans Rieder, Van Langenhove’s lawyer, immediately announced that he will appeal against the ruling.
