The Chamber of Cassation and Appeals in Criminal, Juvenile Criminal, Contraventional and Misdemeanors of the Judicial Power of the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, resolved to revoke the conviction of Alejandro Bodart and acquit him in the lawsuit promoted by the DAIA (Delegation of Argentine Israeli Associations), which had denounced him for expressing solidarity with Palestine and condemning the crimes of the State of Israel. The judicial persecution against Bodart, whose acquittal had been arbitrarily revoked, was based on three social media posts that demanded a free Palestine and full respect for human rights for the entire population that resides between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, in addition to repudiating the murder of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, which occurred in May 2022.
Before the ruling, Congress Member (MST FIT Unidad – mc) and coordinator of the International Socialist League Alejandro Bodart , said: “The Chamber has just revoked my conviction and acquitted me in the unjust lawsuit that the DAIA filed against me for defending Palestine and condemning the genocide of the State of Israel. The ruling is conclusive and reaffirms once again that denouncing a genocide like the one that Netanyahu and the Zionist State of Israel are perpetrating in Gaza in the plain sight of the world, is not a crime. The Court, in its lengthy ruling, interprets that these were political opinions and criticisms of Israel’s barbarism. It is not only not a crime, but an obligation of those all who consider themselves democratic and do not endorse the massacre that intends to eliminate and expel the Palestinian people from their land. They won’t be able to silence us. Today more than ever, everyone has to raise their voice to condemn genocide.”
Bodart’s lawyer, María del Carmen Verdú (CORREPI), explained: “It is the third time, in this process that should never have existed, that we have achieved the acquittal of comrade Bodart. The ruling of Chamber I of the Criminal Chamber of CABA recognizes that denouncing the genocide perpetrated by the Zionist State of Israel on the Palestinian people is not a crime, it is not hate speech or discrimination or implies anti-Semitism, and that the comrade’s statements constitute ‘a political criticism of the actions of a state … carried out by a person with an active leftist militancy’. This ruling, like the previous ones of Dr. Casas and Dr. Molina, are important precedents for the defense of all people criminalized for defending the Palestinian People, like comrade Vanina Biasi.”
To conclude, Ismael Jalil, also a lawyer for Bodart and defender of the Palestinian cause, said: “The ruling highlights the issue of freedom of expression, but substantially overturns the IHRA statement on anti-Semitism. And, on the other hand, they are the arguments, which we show them in the audience. It is our same arguments that say that Argentina did not adopt the IHRA declaration with its 11 examples, therefore, criticizing the State of Israel cannot be prevented. In addition, he argues that it has no binding legal effect, that is, that it is a working rule but that it cannot in any way condemn anyone. The triumph is a collective triumph. The organization, the internationalist solidarity, the accompaniment, the being at the side of those who suffer, this already atavistic question of ours of reacting with class feeling, but also with internationalist feeling, beyond borders and flags, qualified this struggle and that is why this result.”
Here we share the complete ruling:
