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Europe
Sweden: Politician fined for Albanian comments
2007-06-13
Sweden has a law called "Agitation Against a Minority Group".
A local politician in southern Sweden has been fined 18,000 kronor for writing a motion claiming that 95 percent of all heroin brought in to Sweden comes via Kosovo. Dahn Pettersson, a councillor for the local Alliance Party, presented the motion to Burlöv council last year. The main subject of the motion was homelessness in the town. He said that drugs were a major reason for homelessness, adding: "Is it surprising that rough sleepers are growing in number when we import this drug, due to the fact that [former immigration minister Birgit ] Friggebo gave 46,000 Kosovo Albanians permanent residency? After this mistake, heroin has flooded Sweden and Europe."

Prosecutor Mats Svensson told the court Pettersson had used tactics that pitted different societal groups against each other and deliberately spread wounding statements about Kosovo Albanians. "It is never ethnic groups that commit crimes. It is individuals or groups of individuals," Svensson told the court.
Granted, this is a short article, but where innit does it say that Pettersson wanted all ethnic Kosovars charged with drug smuggling?

This is a rhetorical question.
Nice to see the prosecutor focus on the rights of individuals in Sweden. Where's he been all these decades?
Pettersson's counsel Bjelica Milenko said that freedom of speech was on trial. A motion about homelessness must be allowed to point to the problems and costs of immigration, he said.
Even if the comments are offense or odious. At least if you're concerned about individual rights.
The court found against Pettersson, ruling that he was guilty of Agitation Against a Minority Group. In its ruling, the court said that the law was a limitation on freedom of speech, and every case must be judged in context. Reasoned criticism is not illegal, but Pettersson's motion went beyond what could be considered reasoned.
Ja, especially when one criticizes the policies of high-ranking cabinet ministers.
Shoulda criticized Americans. That would have been safe.
Posted by:Chavitch Sninelet5082

#3  Â“It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.”: Voltaire
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2007-06-13 19:07  

#2  Agitation Against a Minority Group...

Sweden... One big US University campus...

Well, Stockholmabad, BWB

BWB - Blondes wearing Burquas... The new name for the country
Posted by: BigEd   2007-06-13 12:26  

#1  Thought crime in SSRE.
Posted by: gromgoru   2007-06-13 09:34  

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