THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court has convicted 20 people of insulting or threatening a politician and television personality in a racially charged case that shocked the nation.
The verdicts Thursday came in the trial in Amsterdam of 21 people accused of targeting Sylvana Simons, who is a former dancer and television presenter of Surinamese descent, with a torrent of online racist abuse. One person was acquitted.
The court said in a statement that the heaviest sentence, 80 hours of community service, went to a man who superimposed the head of Simons on video images of a Ku Klux Klan lynching.
Simons' political group, called Artikel 1, welcomed the verdicts, saying in a tweet that they sent a "clear signal" about the limits of freedom of speech.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.