It also guarantees the freedom of speech by stipulating that everyone has the right to express his or her opinion freely. However, Article 19 also determines that abuses of these freedoms can be punished, a principle which is controversially applied in the Belgian Holocaust denial law, which made it an offence to publicly "deny, minimise, justify or approve of the genocide committed by the German National Socialist regime during the Second World War".
The right to free speech is guaranteed by Article 19, but this right can be restricted if abuses occur. This principle has been controversial in Belgium's Holocaust denial law, which criminalizes public expressions that deny, minimize, justify, or approve of Nazi genocide during World War II.