A nationalist activist former Belgian MP has vowed to appeal to the country’s highest court after a judge refused to overturn his one-year prison sentence for supposedly offensive private chat group memes that he didn’t even post.
Dries Van Langenhove, 31, was first charged in 2019 with violating laws against racism and historical revisionism after left-wing journalists claimed to have exposed “racist” messages posted in a chat group of the Flemish-nationalist group he founded, Schild & Vrienden.
In March last year Van Langenhove, who was an independent member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives from 2019 to 2023 was sentenced to 12 months’ jail for the memes and fined €16,000.
The right-wing activist also had his civil rights suspended for 10 years, making him ineligible to be re-elected to parliament, and immediately appealed the verdict.
Guilty. 12 months in jail. Madness.
— Dries Van Langenhove (@DVanLangenhove) June 20, 2025
Van Langenhove appeared in the Ghent Court of Appeal on Friday where a judge again found him guilty, but suspended his sentence and reduced his fine to €1,600 after finding that the case had exceeded a reasonable time limit, and overturned the civil rights suspension, The Brussels Times reported.
“Guilty. 12 months in jail. Madness,” Van Langenhove wrote on X, and said immediately after the verdict that he would appeal to the Supreme Court, and, if necessary, to the European Court of Justice.
“The court has never wanted to listen to me, not even here. This is a black day for justice, for democracy, Belgium and Europe in general. But we are not giving up the fight,” he said.
Header image: Left, right, Dries Van Langenhove (X).
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