In Poland, justice confirmed this Wednesday January 12 the acquittal of three LGBT + activists accused of insulting religious feelings after pasting posters of the Virgin Mary haloed with a rainbow.
With our correspondent in Warsaw, Sarah Bakaloglou
Three years after the start of the legal proceedings, these three Polish activists were definitively acquitted on Wednesday. Despite a first acquittal last March, they were again tried, because the prosecution had appealed, judging the last verdict too lenient. They faced up to two years in prison.
This trial testifies to the intimidation received by LGBT + activists in Poland under the government of the National Conservative Party Law and justice, but this outcome, which nevertheless comes in an increasingly worrying context, is a relief for Sarian Jarosz, researcher for Amnesty Poland.
” Especially since 2017, it has been observed that homophobia is instrumentalised by the government, by the extremist fringe of the Catholic Church. And we see that LGBT + people become scapegoats for police, public opinion and politicians simply with a cynical aim: to gain political influence. », He explains.
A climate weighing down on Poland
According to the researcher, this type of trial serving to intimidate activists in Poland is far from being an isolated case : ” There are trials against activists for offending religious beliefs of course, but also for participating or illegally organizing demonstrations, or violations of Covid-19 rules. So far, most of these cases have been closed. But apart from the question of the verdict, these people find themselves in court, risk their professional lives, their health and see their activism paralyzed. “
A climate of threats and hate speech that is not without consequences. Almost one in two LGBT + people in Poland suffers from depression, up from 28% in 2017, according to a Warsaw University survey.