Netherlands: Free Speech in Question

Raisa Blommstijn is a conservative commentator in the Netherlands who has been outspoken when it comes to the problem of migrant crime in her country. Until recently, she appeared regularly on the conservative broadcast, Ungehoord Nederland. I have watched her several times, and to me, she is no more controversial than say, our Dana Perino on Fox News.

Yet she now finds herself under investigation by prosecutors over tweets she made on what is now X last year calling attention to violent migrant crime. In the below article (translated by Fousesquawk), the conservative Dutch site, Nieuw Rechts, discusses the issue and also calls attention to conservative Dutch politician, Gideon van Meijeren, who used the term, “Negroid primates” to refer to a gang of migrants who violently attacked an Italian tourist at a train station and threw him on the tracks.  When the statement by van Meijeren created a ruckus, Blommestijn ( it appears from the article) adopted the language in support of van Meijeren.

While I certainly would not have used the above term, I ask whether the actual use of that term in public should be a cause for criminal prosecution. Certainly not in the US, but this is the Netherlands, and their free speech laws are not the same as American free speech laws.

https://nieuwrechts.nl/97281-raisa-blommestijn-strafrechtelijk-vervolgd-vanwege-haar-tweets

Raisa Blommestijn criminally prosecuted due to her tweets

News   24 March 2024  

The Public Prosecutor’s Office has filed a criminal prosecution against legal (commentator) Raisa Blommestijn. The reason for this is her comments on social media from last year. “This is indicative of the state of the West,” Blommestijn wrote on X. 

The Public Prosecutor’s Office filed the prosecution last year due to Blommestijn’s tweets about migrant violence. This was confirmed by the legal commentator herself on X after an earlier report by opinion maker Ashley St. Clair.

Violent video at Bijimar Arena Station

The reason for this is the tweets that Blommestijn wrote after a violent video went viral last year. In the video, an Italian tourist at the Bijimar Station was beaten and thrown onto the tracks by a group of youths with a migration background. The images went all over the Internet.

Blommestijn devoted a number of reports on X (formerly Twitter). “Every day, people are raped, beaten, intimidated, and slaughtered by migrants. The elite have opened the borders and deliberately forfeited our safety. Our home destroyed. And we let it happen. We let it happen. When is enough enough?” wrote the legal commentator, among other things.

For years, people with a migration background have been overrepresented in crime statistics. Not just in the Netherlands, but also in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, and Sweden. meanwhile, the Hungarian capital, Budapest, where there is hardly any mass immigration, is considered the safest place in continental Europe. 

“Negroid primates”

Shortly afterward, Forum for Democracy MP, Gideon van Meijeren, denounced the violent incident in the Second Chamber (House of Representatives). Here he used the term, “Negoid primates” to describe the rioters at the station. A ruckus arose over this terminology, to the dissatisfaction of Van Meijeren. He did not think it was racist, but a factual designation: “Primates” refers to the primitive behavior of the youths, “Negroid” referring to their skin color.

To show support, Blommestijn decided to use his terminology in her tweets. But a few months later, she noticed that her tweets were deleted because she was reportedly in conflict with Dutch law. Therefore, the legal commentator decided to repost the tweets, in her words, “to show how far censorship now goes”.  

Criminal prosecution

For the Public Prosecutor’s Office, this was a step too far. In August, Blommestijm received a telephone call that a criminal prosecution was being filed against her on suspicion of insulting a group (of people) and provoking hate and discrimination (Article 137c of the Criminal Code).

Blommestijn was subsequently interrogated by two police officers. According to her, it was a “very intense” experience. “For about three hours long I was grilled about my intentions with the tweets-which is understandable- but also, for example, how I react when I see people with a head covering. Also discussed were my purported connections with political parties, organizations, and other things.  It was downright surreal, and, as I also told the officers, deadly scary. At such a moment, you are literally looking a totalitarian government straight in the eye,” she writes on X.

Now, three-quarters of a year later, Blommestijn is still awaiting a notice from the Prosecutor’s Office. At any moment, she can be summoned to appear before the judge. But whether this will happen is as yet unclear. For a long time, Blommestijn has kept her prosecution out of the media due to her work for Ongehoord Nederland. But given that she broke with the broadcast group in January, she sees no further reason to be silent.

Personal data queried

Blommestijn has long been in the sights of Dutch authorities. Her personal data in the population register (BRP) is regularly queried by ministries, police, and the Marechaussee (National Gendarmerie Police). The legal commentator discovered this herself last year, through her own inquiry at the National Identity Data Service (RVIG).

Until March of 2022, the queries were still sporadic. But since then, the number of inquiries has increased explosively to an average of one every three days. This would amount to about 180 inquiries over one-and-a-half years. Blommestijn herself suspects that this has to do with her activist work.

“Dissidents are prosecuted”

The legal commentator views her criminal prosecution as part of a wider trend in the West. On X, she writes, “The fact that the Public Prosecutor’s Office is going after me (and other dissidents) instead of tackling the real violence of these migrants is indicative of the state of the West.”

For example, it was revealed last week that Flemish politician Dries Van Langenhove has been sentenced to one year in prison. In addition, he may not hold any public office, such as a political position. According to the judge, Van Langenhove was guilty of “racist, hateful, and Nazi” ideas and would incite “physical and psychological violence”. Van Langenhove himself speaks of a politically motivated trial.

Blommestijn on X:

“I have never publically said anything here- primarily because of Ongehoord Nederland, but (now) the word can get out: In August 2022, I was told that the Public Prosecutor’s Office was filing a criminal prosecution over a number of tweets about a defenseless white man who was beaten by migrants at a station- and the danger of mass immigration for our society.

I was interrogated for 3 hours (!) by two police officers, and at any moment, I can be summoned to appear before a judge.

The fact that the Public Prosecutor’s Office is going after me (and other dissidents) instead of tackling the real violence of these migrants is indicative of the state of the West.”