Discriminatory harassment – dissemination of posts attributing to religious, national or ethnic groups characteristics of inferiority or a propensity to commit crimes – case – Article 2(3) of Legislative Decree No. 215/2003 – existence of harassment – consequences – right of the collective claimant bodies to compensation for non-pecuniary damage – existence

Since freedom of expression, while also protecting critical, provocative or unwelcome opinions, must be balanced against the protection of human dignity, its exercise cannot result in the indiscriminate attribution, to all members of a group identified on the basis of ethnic origin, nationality or religion, of characteristics of inferiority or a generalised propensity to commit crimes. Accordingly, the dissemination of Facebook posts using expressions such as "Islam is the evil of the world", "Tunisians and Algerians who deal drugs and rape", "yet another North African Islamic criminal" and other similar expressions, constitutes discriminatory harassment within the meaning of Article 2(3) of Legislative Decree No. 215/2003, and gives rise to compensation for non-pecuniary damage in favour of the claimant collective bodies (in this case quantified at EUR 20,000), in addition to an order to remove the posts and to publish the operative part of the judgment in the "Corriere della Sera".