SWEDEN: The Swidish priest who was senetenced to one month in prison for making offensive remarks about gay people was acquited on appeal of hate crime

Record ID: 570981

  • Title: SWEDEN: The Swidish priest who was senetenced to one month in prison for making offensive remarks about gay people was acquited on appeal of hate crime
  • Date: 30th November 2005
  • Summary: CLOSE UP FOLDER WITH VERDICT DEFENCE LAWYER PERCY BRATT READING VERDICT (SOUNDBITE) (English) DEFENCE LAWYER PERCY BRATT SAYING: "My client Ake Green and the defence are very satisfied with this verdict. It shows that the supreme court in Sweden pays respect to the European conventions and the Strasbourg case law and they have found that if Mr. Green would have been sentenced that would have been a violation of his right to freedom of expression and freedom of religion and therefore they they have interpreted the Swedish criminal provision in this way so he is acquitted".
  • Embargoed: 15th December 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sweden
  • Country: Sweden
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA558FO2OVMJHESBLC1VGJT9ZQM
  • Story Text: The Swedish priest who was last summer was sentenced to one month in prison for making offensive remarks about gay people, was on Tuesday (November 29) acquited by the Supreme Court of all hate crime charges. ke Green, a pastor in the Pentacostalist church in Borgholm, was convicted last year under a controversial Swedish law that forbids agitation against certain minorities, including homosexuals. Green said in a sermon in 2003 that "sexual abnormality is a deep tumour that spreads across the whole body of society", and claimed that homosexuality could lead to paedophilia. A few protesters had gathered in the early morning outside the Supreme Court to express their support for the homosexual community Green's lawyer, Percy Bratt, todl reporters after the verdict, "My client Ake Green and the defence are very satisfied with this verdict. It shows that the supreme court in Sweden pays respect to the European conventions and the Strasbourg case law and they have found that if Mr. Green would have been sentenced that would have been a violation of his right to freedom of expression and freedom of religion, so that is why they have interpreted the Swedish criminal provision in this way so he is acquitted". At the original trial in Kalmar in the summer of 2004, the court ruled that Green's speech amounted to a deep insult to homosexuals as a group, and that it was intended to incite hatred of gay people. The trial was the first to be held since Sweden's laws on incitement to hatred of minority groups were extended in 2003 to cover homosexuality. The appeal has reawoken a debate on the merits of the law, with many religious groups claiming that their rights to free speech are being curtailed. Green continued also to argue that he was quoting the words of God, not his own. A small group of parents of homosexual children said they were stunned by the result of the appeal. "We represent a network of parents who have children whom are homosexual. I find it so wrong, when you have a law forbidding hate crimes, and he still is allowed to call them a cancer tumour, it is so, and so wrong I am truly disappointed,"Ragnar Kristensson, father of two homosexual children said. Pastor Green said he was relieved at the decision. "It feels great, such a relief, it's wonderful that they came to this decision. It means that we get to keep freedom of speech and freedom of religion which feels great. This is something I also have been fighting for," he said from his church on the southern Swedish island of Bornholm. Green said he hoped the verdict would make young people carefully consider their sexuality. "I still have very strong feelings about them and I truly hope that this has made them think. Especially young ones, who are on the verge, who haven't maybe figured out their sexual identity. I hope that they consider this before they turn towards homosexuality."
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