The Antwerp criminal court has acquitted 16 officers of the Antwerp local police and the security corps of the FPS Justice for racism in secret WhatsApp groups. 16 of the 29 suspects were convicted of workplace harassment.
The officers involved worked for the former GEOV (courts and transfers) service, which was responsible for the surveillance and transport of detainees and detainees. In August 2014, a Whatsapp group was set up to make practical arrangements, however it came to be a space where offensive comments were shared and colleagues were abused.
The conversations reflected a toxic work atmosphere with little effort made to stamp out harassment. An investigation led to a criminal file that assessed over 200 pages of WhatsApp conversations, as well as gathering statements from those targeted. As a result, 29 group members were charged with harassment and 15 also for racism.
However, all 15 were acquitted of the latter charges as racist statements between colleagues do not fall under Article 23 of the anti-racism law, the court ruled. Nonetheless, 16 were found guilty of bullying, which was interpreted as excluding, ridiculing, humiliating, antagonising or discrediting people for their appearance, health problems or origin.
Humiliating and hurtful environment
Defendants who had only made "a limited number" of hurtful and derogatory statements in the group and who did not show any other bullying behaviour were acquitted, regardless of the questionable tone of the conversations.
But those responsible for a large number of statements about certain colleagues were found guilty, even though the bullying took place on Whatsapp and not in the workplace itself. The court concluded that they had "contributed to maintaining a humiliating and hurtful environment" for the victims.
Of the 16 found guilty, five received a suspended sentence of six months in prison and a €4,800 fine. Seven were only sentenced to a suspended fine of up to €4,800 and the other four were deemed guilty but did not receive a punishment.
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The harassment, which took place over a long period of time, had a serious impact on the victims, seven of whom filed a civil suit. On two occasions, one of them tried to take his own life. Another was unable to work due to the mental impact of the bullying and went into early retirement.
The court awarded them a total of almost €39,000 in damages. However, a large number of amounts are provisional, because an expert has yet to estimate their final damage.
