Court rejects appeals in Van Langenhove racism case
The Court of Cassation has rejected the appeals lodged by former MP Dries Van Langenhove, founder of the far-right group Schild & Vrienden, and four other men against their convictions for violations of the racism and negationism law and violations of the weapons law.
The case began in September 2018 after a report by VRT’s Pano programme showed that racist and antisemitic messages were being shared in secret Schild & Vrienden chat groups. Van Langenhove was officially charged in June 2019. On 20 June last year, the Ghent Court of Appeal sentenced him to one year’s suspended imprisonment and an effective fine of 1,600 euros.
Two other members of the Flemish nationalist group, AD and JG, were sentenced to three months’ suspended prison terms and fines, while two others, BS and JV, were given community service orders and fines.
The five men lodged an appeal against the judgment. They argued, among other things, that although an expert report had been excluded from the proceedings, the evidence on which that report was based had not been excluded, that their convictions were insufficiently substantiated, that the prosecution had lapsed because the evidence was illegible and the reasonable time limit had been exceeded, and that a particular witness had not been called to testify.
However, the public prosecutor’s office at the Court of Cassation saw no reason to overturn the Ghent judgment and argued that the defence’s arguments were based on an incorrect reading of the judgment or a mistaken interpretation of the law. The judges followed that logic.
Van Langenhove resigned as an MP in 2023. He had been a member of the Chamber since 2019 as an independent in the Vlaams Belang faction.
#FlandersNewsService | Dries Van Langenhove at the Ghent Court of Appeal, 20 June 2025 © BELGA PHOTO JAMES ARTHUR GEKIERE
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