Dionysis “Denis” Galiatsatos, one Canadian judge with Greek roots ruled that pointing the middle finger at someone else may not be polite gesturebut it is not a crime and furthermore it is a right protected by freedom of expression under the Canadian constitution.
Galiatsatos, the third of Greek origin judge in Quebec history, in his 26-page decision, he dismissed the appeal against a man who was accused of harassing his neighbor in a suburb of Montreal. Neil Epstein was arrested in May 2021 for threatening and showing both middle fingers to a neighbor.
“To be absolutely clear, it is not a crime to give someone the middle finger,” the judge said in the February 24 decision, which has now been released. “It is a God-given, constitutionally guaranteed right of every decent Canadian”he added, referring to Canada’s charter of rights and freedoms.
This particular gesture “she may not be civilized, she may not be polite, she may not be chivalrous… yet she is not criminally liable”, pointed out the judge, who noted that the man who made the gesture should not have been arrested in the first place and underlined that in such cases the… victims should have “tougher skin”. He also got into trouble with the man who made the complaint.
In fact, he emphasized that in this case the court “tends to throw the case file out the window” but, he added, the courtrooms in the Montreal courthouse have no windows.
Source: News Beast
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