Presenter Raisa Blommestijn again convicted for group defamation in appeal

Dutch television presenter Raisa Blommestijn has received a 30-hour community service sentence, with 10 hours suspended, following an appeal for group defamation. The conviction stems from comments she made on X (formerly Twitter) in May 2023, which the court deemed to have a racist undertone.

Blommestijn had posted a video of an assault, writing, "Yet another white man beaten up on the street by a group of negroïde primates. How many defenseless whites must become victims?" The court acknowledged that the words "negroïde" and "primaten" might not be inherently offensive on their own. However, it ruled that their combination with "blanke man" (white man) undeniably lent the statement a racist character, thus qualifying it as group defamation.

While Blommestijn claimed her intention was to "ignite societal debate," the court maintained that this did not negate the criminal nature of her remarks. The appeal also addressed a separate instance where Blommestijn insulted lawyer and former Member of Parliament Sidney Smeets on X, referring to him as a "kleuterneuker" (child molester). Blommestijn argued she did not mean it literally and had placed it in quotation marks, but the court found this insufficient to diminish the literal meaning.

The court acknowledged that public figures like Smeets should possess a thicker skin but emphasized that "utterances about a public figure should not be unnecessarily offensive." It concluded that Blommestijn's statement was indeed unnecessarily offensive. The sentence is lighter than the initial ruling in December 2024, where she received an 80-hour community service sentence. The reduction occurred because the appeals court dismissed the charge of libel against Smeets, convicting her instead of insult, which carries a lesser penalty. Blommestijn was also ordered to pay Smeets 550 euros in damages.