The events for which Rasmus Paludan was charged took place in connection with Koran burnings in Malmö in April and September 2022, respectively.
It is about three charges, two cases of incitement against a group of people and one case of insult.
The first two suspicions are about Rasmus Paludan putting bacon in and around a Koran and then lighting a fire, kicking and spitting on the Koran and making statements disrespecting different ethnicities.
In the third case, the far-right politician is said to have expressed himself offensively, in front of others, towards a man who was a spectator during one of the demonstrations. According to the prosecutor, Rasmus Paludan must have played a phrase against the man 35 times with a megaphone.
At 11 o’clock on Monday, the verdict was handed down against Rasmus Paludan, who denied the crime.
A unanimous Malmö district court convicted Rasmus Paludan on all three counts. The punishment was imprisonment for four months.
“Went out to slander and insult Muslims”
The court believes that his actions and statements “cannot be excused as criticism of Islam or as political campaign work.”
– It is permitted to publicly speak critically about, for example, Islam and also about Muslims, but the disrespect of a people group must not clearly cross the line for a factual and valid discussion. In these cases, there was no question of any such discussion. The statements instead only amounted to insulting and insulting Muslims, says the court’s chairman, Chief Councilor Nicklas Söderberg, in a press release.
According to the district court, the penalty was imprisonment because Rasmus Paludan had previously been convicted of a similar crime by a Danish court. He must also pay damages to the man who was insulted.
District Court: The defense is downright illogical
The main evidence against the politician has been video recordings from the gatherings published on Rasmus Paludan’s party’s Facebook page. He himself has claimed that he did not know that they would be published, something the district court does not believe.
– The man’s (Rasmus Paludan’s) actions at the gatherings would be downright illogical if he did not know about the publication on Facebook. There are also a number of circumstances which show that the publication took place with his will. For example, it appears in the films that he asks the person filming how many viewers they have, says Nicklas Söderberg.
Rasmus Paludan tells TT that he does not share the district court’s assessment.
– I have informed my defense lawyer that we will appeal to the Court of Appeal, he tells the news agency.
TV4 Nyheterna has sought Rasmus Paludan for a comment.