(Montbéliard) A 12-year-old boy, who had watched hundreds of jihadist videos and distributed some of them, was found guilty of condoning acts of terrorism on Wednesday in eastern France.
Since December 2023, the boy, “presenting significant vulnerabilities”, had recorded more than 1,700 videos of propaganda or massacres of a jihadist nature, recalled the prosecutor of Montbéliard, Paul-Edouard Lallois, during a press conference. He shared them through several encrypted messaging services.
At the end of a closed hearing before the juvenile judge, he admitted to having become interested in Islam, then to having fallen into discussion channels such as Discord and Telegram. “He was able to participate in discussions relating to radical Islamism and explained to us several times that he had been recruited,” the prosecutor said.
For the prosecutor, the offences were “established” because the pre-adolescent presented “acts of terrorism in a favourable light and could incite the commission of such acts”. But the magistrate nevertheless noted an alteration of discernment and underlined psychological vulnerabilities which were “a favourable breeding ground for a phenomenon of radicalisation”.
The child had developmental disorders, marked by a language delay. “He reported difficulties adapting to secondary school and his negative experience of loneliness,” according to the prosecutor.
The criminal sanction against him will be known in seven months, but given his young age, the boy does not face a prison sentence, but is liable to educational measures. He is currently placed in an educational structure.