pic: Roger Turesson (DN.se)
Ten members of the neo-nazi Nordic resistance movement group (Nordic motståndsrörelsen, NMR) were today pronounced not guilty of incitement to racial hatred (hets mot folkgrupp) in court in Göteborg. Five of the charged were convicted of violent rioting.
The indictments stemmed from the protests surrounding the book expo in Göteborg in 2017, during which there were protests both at the presence of an extreme right-wing publication that was being allowed to display at the expo, and at a march by the NMR directly by the book expo. Many NMR activists protested the protest, leading to clashes.
The court case did not just try to convict NMR members for being violent, but also for inciting racial hatred. In particular, the prosecutors argued that their bearing of the symbol of an arrow called the tyrrunan – or “the symbol of Tyr” who was a minor god in Nordic mythology – that is a sign of NMR membership, along with their otherwise distinctive style of clothing, their speech, and their slogans, together comprise the concept incitement to racial hatred. In lead prosecutor Jonas Martinsson’s argument, these circumstances together were enough and at least equal to the usual requirement for incitement which is generally a specific racist comment or publication (SvD.se/hets).
The court disagreed, stating that the demonstrators’ collected expressions were not of a kind that clearly expressed a connection to national socialist movements during the 1930s and 1940s. To publicly express membership in, or sympathy with, NMR, can not be considered incitement to racial hatred, the court stated in a press release (DN.se/hets).
Commentators have suggested that it isn’t too surprising that at this lower level a court will find similarly to earlier cases. For example, in a court case from 2018, the prosecution tried to link the tyrrunan arrow symbol to the Nazi movement, but didn’t succeed. As opposed to the swastika, the court said then, the arrow symbol was not “generally known as being connected” to the national socialist movement. Nor had the prosecution made that particular argument, the court stated. Therefore the posters bearing the arrow symbol could not be considered incitement to racial hatred (SvD.se/symbol). It is possible that this was one case that the court had in mind.
Prosecutor Martinsson said that it’s very likely they will appeal. Hopes are not only to get a different result but also to expand the definition of incitement to include how many people experience it.