Serbia: First Conviction for Online Hate Speech · Global Voices
Jasmina Babic

The High Court in Belgrade has recently brought its first conviction for online hate speech, sentencing Simo Vladičić to three months in prison and two years of probation for threatening members of the LGBT community via the Facebook group 500.000 Srba protiv gej parade/500,000 Serbs against gay parade in September 2011, when the gay pride parade in Belgrade was canceled due to security reasons. In a similar case, the European Court of Human Rights has recently  ruled that hate speech against members of the LGBT community cannot be justified by the right to freedom of speech.