User:The C of E/rvb

R v Bussetti was an English criminal law case held at Westminster Magistrate's Court in London, England. The case surrounded Paul Busetti charged with two viloations of the Communications Act 2003 after allegedly uploading a video of him and friends burning a cardboard effigy of the Grenfell Tower. The case was dismissed by the Chief Magistrate after it was discovered the prosecution had hidden evidence which revealed that two videos were made and Bussetti could not be proved to have uploaded either.

Background
The Grenfell Tower fire was a fire that caused the death of 72 people at Grenfell Tower. On 3 November 2018, Bussetti attended a bonfire party where a cardboard tower, featuring paper figures in the windows, was burned. The video was uploaded to a private WhatsApp group which then became public. Bussetti was charged with two counts of "sending or causing grossly offensive material to be sent via a public communications network", which he pled not guilty to.

Case
The defence argued that while the burning may have been distasteful, it was protected under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The prosecution alleged that the burning was racist in nature as the paper characters were made of brown paper and there was reference to a black coloured figure as a "ninja" (which the prosecution alleged referred to a niqjab). Bussetti denied this accusation stating the characters were his friends and that the "ninja" reference was related to one of his friend's sons who practiced martial arts.