Belgium revokes populist leader’s civil rights over private memes

A Belgian court Tuesday revoked the civil rights of a key populist figure for being part of a group chat which shared “racist” memes.

An investigation was launched in 2018 into Dries Van Langenhove, the leader of a Right-wing Flemish youth movement called Schild & Vrienden (Shield & Friends). Van Langenhove and six others were charged with racism, hate, and Holocaust denial after content shared on their private group chat was leaked. Some  of the jokes and memes shared in the group reportedly related to the Holocaust and famine in Africa, and were thus deemed offensive. The prosecutor initially dropped the charge of Holocaust denial but it was reinstated after pressure from civil rights groups.

But despite Van Langenhove’s assertion that he himself did not share any of the offending content, he was nevertheless sentenced Tuesday to 10 years of a civil rights suspension during which he will be prohibited from voting or running for office. He also received a €16,000 ($17,478) fine and a ten-month suspended prison sentence for violating a weapons law after he was found in possession of pepper spray, reported The Brussels Times.

“The defendant raved about Nazi ideology, which has caused and continues to cause untold suffering to countless people. The file showed that he wants to undermine democratic society and replace it with a social model of white supremacy,” said Judge Jan Van den Berghe.

But Van Langenhove says he himself did not share the offending content.

“A years-long investigation, on which the Justice Department wasted millions of euros of taxpayers’ money, shows that the . . . activists cannot be charged with anything other than some memes. Humor. Memes that I didn’t even post myself,” the 30-year-old activist said.

Five of the other six defendants, who are also part of Shield & Friends, were each handed six to eight month suspended prison sentences and €8,000 ($8,740) fines. Two of them also work for the populist Flemish Interest party which is expected to make big gains in this June’s elections, reports ABC News.