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Bali jails Swiss tourist for insulting sacred Day of Silence

The 26-year-old sparked anger with an expletive-laden post about the sacred holiday.

Bali jails Swiss tourist for insulting sacred Day of Silence

A Swiss tourist, Luzian Andrin Zgraggen, has been sentenced to one year in prison for insulting a sacred religious event on Bali, Indonesia. The incident occurred during the Hindu holiday of Nyepi, also known as the Day of Silence, when the usually bustling tourist island goes quiet, with people staying home and refraining from making loud noises.

Zgraggen filmed himself walking to an empty beach, describing the scene as "crazy," and uploaded the video to Instagram, sparking widespread anger among Balinese on social media. The presiding judge stated that Zgraggen's actions offended the Balinese people, hurt their faith, and provoked public outrage. Despite claiming he did not understand the extent of Nyepi restrictions and did not mean to insult the Balinese, Zgraggen expressed deep regret and apologized in court.

Brief written by urgent.news from BBC World's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.

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