Swiss court upholds conviction of essayist for homophobic remarks 

The Federal Court in Lausanne has upheld the conviction of far-right essayist Alain Soral for discrimination and incitement to hatred. The Frenchman, who lives in Lausanne, made derogatory comments about the sexual orientation of a female journalist and homosexuals in general in an interview published online in 2021. Soral, whose real name is Alain Bonnet, was convicted based on Article 261bis of the Swiss Criminal Code. Since July 1, 2020, it is also possible to punish calls for discrimination or incitement to hatred based on the sexual orientation of a person or group of people. + From 2020: Swiss voters accept law to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation According to a Federal Court judgement published on Thursday, the basis of the interview was a previously published, critical newspaper article by the journalist. The Frenchman said in the interview that the article was written by a “queer activist”. He continued that, as a defender of the Swiss soul and spirit, he was ...