Several inhabitants of Bodzaforduló/Întorsura Buzăului/Bodsau, a town in Kovászna/Covasna County, received a summons to appear at the local police office. Two of them were even fined because of cussing out the town’s mayor.
The case happened in the “Votam pentru noi!” (We vote for ourselves) Facebook group. Several people posted in the group that they had received a summons after the mayor pressed charges against them for earlier posts in which they used profane language directed at the mayor.
While members of the group say that their right to freedom of speech was restricted, the police confirmed that they had been fined. According to their brief, they imposed the fine on the grounds of the 61/1991 law specifying how to penalize activities violating the public order. The law includes that violent and offensively vulgar language can be penalized as well if it violates human dignity. Six people were summoned by the police based on the citations, and two of them received the minimum fine of RON 200 (EUR 42).
The mayor pressed charges against the administrators of the Facebook group and the commenters not because of their criticisms but because of the offensive and vulgar language used to do so. He is even thinking about taking the case to the civil court by proceeding with a lawsuit against the people who abused him. The mayor also finds it injurious to be accused of doing “nothing,” while several projects, worth EUR 60 million, are currently being implemented in the town.
Title image: According to the law, denigration on social media can be punished, and this is what has just happened in Bodzaforduló. (The photo is an illustration taken from www.123rf.com)
