The conviction of Dries Van Langenhove provokes reactions far beyond our country. Even billionaire Elon Musk spoke out (very) briefly.
Van Langenhove was sentenced on Tuesday to one year in prison and a 16,000 euro fine for negationism, incitement to hatred and racial segregation. He also receives a suspended prison sentence of ten months for violations of the weapons legislation, because Van Langenhove offered pepper spray for sale. The man is also deprived of his civil rights for 10 years. Van Langenhove immediately decided to appeal against the ruling.
© BELGIUM
The fact that the founder of Schild & Friends has been convicted has caused many reactions on social media. Eva Vlaardingerbroek, the former candidate for the radical right-wing party Forum for Democracy, among others, shared the news in English on X (formerly Twitter). “Former Flemish MP Dries Van Langenhove has just been sentenced to 1 year IN PRISON for allegedly sharing ‘racist memes’ in a private group chat he was part of. This is the absolute state of freedom of expression in Europe. They imprisoned patriotic dissidents. Next time they will do this to me, you or anyone who goes against the globalist regime. I’m short of words. This is outright tyranny and we must fight it with all our might.”
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Her tweet was noticed by X owner Elon Musk. He responded very briefly with the word “Whoa” to the news. (Read more below the tweet)
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It is also not the first time that Musk has become involved with the extreme right in our country. In August of last year he shared images of violence from Zelzate. He also responded approvingly to a message from Vlaams Belang chairman Tom Van Grieken.