New hate speech law in Sweden – From January it will be illegal to speak ill of transsexuals
By EMMA R.
VoiceOfEurope.com
31 December 2018
On 1 January, a so-called “extended judicial protection of transgender persons” is introduced, which means that the grounds of “transgender identity or expression” is added to the crime of hate speech, Fria Tider reports.
At the end of last year, the Swedish Government submit a bill to Parliament with proposals to “strengthen the protection of transgender persons in criminal law”.
“The legislative changes proposed by the government mean that transgender persons will be fully protected by hate crime legislation. Today, the regulations include, for example, skin colour, creed and sexual orientation”, the government wrote back then.
The bill proposes that the grounds of “transgender identity or expression” be added to the regulations on hate speech.
Now the changes are implemented, and the law is thus further expanded. So-called “hate” against transgender people is forbidden.
From 1 January 2019 the following applies in Chapter 16. 8 § of the Penal Code, i.e. the law on hate speech:
“Any person who, in a statement or in another shared message, threatens or expresses contempt for a community or other such group of people on the basis of race, skin colour, national or ethnic origin, creed, sexual orientation or transgender identity or expression, is convicted of hate speech to imprisonment for a maximum of two years or, if the offence is minor, to a fine.
“If the offence is severe, the offender is convicted of aggravated incitement to hatred to imprisonment for a minimum of six months and a maximum of four years.”
The Rest…HERE
