Writer sentenced to two months in prison for calling a journalist a 'fat lesbian'
Topics: LGBTQ
Stewart Perrie
Featured Image Credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: LGBTQ
A writer has been sentenced to 60 days in prison after he criticized a journalist.
Alain Bonnet, who goes by Alain Soral, was accused of defamation, discrimination and incitement to hatred for the comments he made about Catherine Macherel.
In a Facebook video posted two years ago, the French-Swiss writer called the journalist for the Tribune de Geneve and 24 Heures newspapers a 'fat lesbian'.
According to the Associated Press, Soral labelled Macherel as 'unhinged' and ripped into her work as a queer activist.
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This was after she wrote an article in 2021 that 'wasn't to his liking', as per SwissInfo.
The outlet revealed Soral has been convicted nearly two dozen times in France for defamation, hurling anti-Semitic insults and provoking hatred.
As a result of his divisive past, public prosecutor Eric Kaltenrieder was hoping the courts would send Soral away for three months.
Kaltenrieder tried to invoke 'penal logic' by saying a sentence of that length would 'dissuade the defendant from re-offending'.
"These are not just words; they are messages. Mr Soral has hatred and contempt for homosexuals," Kaltenrieder said.
He was able to call on a new law that had been introduced in Switzerland back in 2020.
The ruling brought sexual orientation into line with penalties that were given to people who discriminated someone based on their ethnicity, religion or origin.
Soral said it has been an 'appalling inquisitional trial' and he's insisted that he's 'not a militant homophobe'.
The courts eventually settled on a 60 day sentence for Soral.
The man's lawyer, Pascal Junod, told the Associated Press that his client was convicted for a 'crime of opinion'.
Soral says he will appeal to the federal court and even take it to the European Court of Human Rights 'if necessary'.
The conviction and sentence has been praised by LGBTQIA+ groups.
Murial Waeger, co-director of the lesbian activist group LOS, said in a statement: “This court decision is an important moment for justice and rights of LGBTQI people in Switzerland.
"The conviction of Alain Soral is a strong signal that homophobic hatred cannot be tolerated in our society.”