US/World News

Polish ruling: Gas chamber chants by soccer fans OK

(JNS.org) A Polish municipal prosecutor ruled last week that chants by Polish League soccer fans calling for Jews to be sent to gas chambers are not criminally racist. Fans of the Lech Poznan soccer club shouted things like “move on Jews,” “your home is at Auschwitz,” and “send you to the gas [chamber]” in a match last September. Prosecutor Monika Rutkowsk ruled that the chants were not criminal because they were “not directed at a specific group of fans and not at Jews in particular,” said Rutkowsk. Since the European Court of Human Rights does not offer an accepted definition for “hate speech,” European prosecutors exercise a great amount of discretion.

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