four ultra-right activists sentenced for homophobic attack

In police custody, these four young men asserted “paramilitary claims and affiliation with the GUD and the National Rally”, according to the prosecution.

The sentences range from six months suspended prison sentence to seven months in prison. Four ultra-right activists were sentenced on Wednesday June 12, in immediate appearance, for their participation in a homophobic attack, in Paris on the night of Sunday to Monday, while they “celebrated” the victory of the RN in the European elections. According to the prosecution, these four young men claimed “paramilitary demands and affiliation with the Union Defense Group [GUD, un syndicat d’étudiants d’extrême droite] and at the National Rally.”

According to the facts reported by the Paris prosecutor’s office, the police intervened during the night from Saturday to Sunday in the 6th arrondissement, near the Luxembourg Gardens. “The victim, who was returning home, claimed to have been attacked around 1:30 a.m. by homophobic and transphobic comments made by people holding a belt and a stick”, he detailed. Still according to the Paris prosecutor’s office, “a witness and video surveillance confirmed that at least one punch had been given to the victim.”

Two of them, aged 23 and 20, were sentenced for violence to five and seven months in prison. The criminal court ordered their immediate incarceration. In a few days, however, they will be able to ask to serve their sentence under an electronic bracelet. Two other young men were sentenced to six months in prison for “failure to assist a person in danger”.

Among them is a young man of 21, as well as Gabriel Loustau, 23, figure of the GUD and son of Axel Loustau, former activist of this student organization, ex-elected RN and formerly close to Marine Le Pen. On May 22, the latter appeared in Paris for public provocation to commit a crime, threat of death, insults of a discriminatory nature and apology for crime. The judgment will be rendered on June 24.

With two of the four young men sentenced on Wednesday, Gabriel Loustau was also arrested among a group of 39 people, during a gathering on February 10 at the Charonne cemetery in Paris, in tribute to the far-right writer Robert Brasillach , shot at the Liberation for collaboration. The procedure was closed without further action, as no offense was sufficiently serious.

The four activists are banned from contacting each other for three years and banned from contacting the victim for two years, with provisional execution.