2 GRA STIFTUNG GEGEN RASSISMUS UND ANTISEMITISMUS v. SWITZERLAND JUDGMENT 6. On 5 November 2009 the youth wing of the Swiss People’s Party (Junge Schweizerische Volkspartei) held a demonstration in the train station square in the town of Frauenfeld concerning a public initiative to support the prohibition of the building of minarets in Switzerland. After the event the party published a report on its website, including the following excerpts: “In his speech in front of the Thurgau government building [Thurgauer Regierungsgebäude], B.K., the president of the local branch of the Young Swiss People’s Party [“the JSVP”], emphasised that it was time to stop the expansion of Islam. With this demonstration, the Young Swiss People’s Party wanted to take an extraordinary measure in an extraordinary time. The Swiss guiding culture (“schweizerische Leitkultur”), based on Christianity, cannot allow itself to be replaced by other cultures, B.K. added. A symbolic sign, such as the prohibition of minarets, would therefore be an expression of the preservation of one’s own identity.” 7. In response, the applicant posted an entry on its website in the section called “Chronology – Verbal racism”, entitled “Frauenfeld TG, 5 November 2009”, including the following extract: “According to the report of the event, B.K., the president of the local branch of the Young Swiss People’s Party, emphasised that it was time to stop the expansion of Islam. He added further: ‘The Swiss guiding culture, based on Christianity, cannot allow itself to be replaced by other cultures. A symbolic sign, such as the prohibition of minarets, would therefore be an expression of the preservation of one’s own identity.’ Swiss People’s Party of Switzerland canton representative H.L. also spoke to the few people who attended; nevertheless, the Young Swiss People’s Party speaks of a great success. (Verbal racism)” 8. On 29 November 2009 the popular initiative against the construction of minarets was accepted in a referendum and a constitutional amendment banning the construction of new minarets was introduced. 9. On 21 August 2010 B.K. filed a claim for the protection of his personality rights with the Kreuzlingen District Court (Bezirksgericht Kreuzlingen). He applied, firstly, to have the applicant organisation withdraw the entry in question from its homepage and, secondly, for it to be replaced with the court’s judgment. The applicant organisation replied that the title of the Internet entry had to be considered as a value judgment, which could only lead to an infringement of personality rights if it entailed an unnecessarily hurtful and insulting attack on the person concerned. 10. On 15 March 2011 the Kreuzlingen District Court dismissed B.K.’s action. It held that the publication of the impugned article on the applicant’s website had been justified since it had related to a political discussion on a matter of public interest. 11. On appeal, on 17 November 2011 the Thurgau Cantonal High Court (Obergericht des Kantons Thurgau) reversed the first-instance judgment. It held that classifying B.K.’s speech as “verbally racist” had been a mixed value judgment, which could lead to an infringement of personality rights if it was based on untruths. The High Court concluded that B.K.’s speech itself had not been racist. It therefore ordered that the impugned article be