By: Marie LeRoy 

Impunity Watch News Staff Writer

STRASBOURG, France – Dorota Rabczewska, also known as Doda, was issued a bill of indictment for offending two people by insulting the Bible during a television interview. On January 16, 2012, Doda was convicted under Article 196 of the Criminal Code and fined 5,000 Polish zlots (i.e., $1,021.18), fifty times the minimum provided by the law. 

The conviction was based on statements Doda made during a broadcasted 2009 interview. In the interview Doda was asked about her religious beliefs and she replied that she was more convinced by scientific discoveries, and not by “all those guys who wrote those incredible biblical stories” and were “wasted from drinking wine and smoking some weed.”

The government argued that Doda’s statements were blasphemous and meant deliberately to shock and insult the public. The government believed that they had a duty to protect the religious feelings and beliefs of the Poland population, who were overwhelmingly Catholic.

Doda appealed, arguing that she had not meant to offend but had made the statements jokingly, and that the conviction had been an unjust and a severe infringement of her right to freedom of expression. The government believed that Article 196 of the Criminal Code justified the interference of Doda’s rights, as she should have known that she could be prosecuted for her words.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) reversed, holding that the conviction amounted to an interference in Doda’s freedom of expression right. The ECHR held that while, under Article 10, the government did meet the “prescribed by law” and “necessary in a democratic society” prongs to convict, the court failed to consider whether Doda’s statements amounted to hate speech. The ECHR noted that Article 10 could protect speech that shocked or disturbed but would become inapplicable if the statements were determined to be hate speech.

The ECHR stated that, for Doda’s comments to be considered hate speech, the court should have assessed whether her statements had been capable of “arousing justified indignation” or whether they were meant to incite hatred or otherwise disturb religious peace or tolerance. Because the lower court failed to consider whether Doda’s statements amounted to hate speech, the ECHR found that there was not sufficient reason to justify the conviction and interference with her freedom of speech, and therefore there had been a violation of Doda’s Article 10 right.

The ECHR’s reaffirmation of the necessity of court’s adhering to the careful analysis of individual rights verses governmental competing interests reinforces the fundamental, but delicate, balance between freedom of expression and governmental oversight.

 

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Polish Pop Star Vindicated Over Blasphemy Case – 15 Sept. 2022

ERCH – Rabczewska v. Poland – 15 Sept. 2022