Since the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 390 reports have been made to the National Center for the Fight against Online Hate, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Among them, some concern left-wing personalities or organizations.
“This is the first time in the entire history of the Fifth Republic that the president of an opposition group in the National Assembly has been summoned for such a serious reason.” In a vehement statementthe leader of the La France insoumise (LFI) deputies, Mathilde Panot, announced Tuesday April 23 to be summoned by the police as part of an investigation for “apology of terrorism”.
Like her, in recent weeks, several left-wing figures have received a missive from the courts as part of such procedures. This is the case of the LFI candidate in the European elections Rima Hassanby the journalist and anti-racist activist Sihame Assbague or even students from the Solidaires union of the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS), as reported Mediapart. Each time, comments reacting to Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 are targeted.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon denounced these summons on the X networkalarmed by the fact that “the police summon without hesitation a list that is said to be very long”. According to him, “the entire anti-genocide political and intellectual sphere is threatened”. Mathilde Panot for her part castigates “serious exploitation of justice aimed at gagging political expressions”.
Reports initiated by the European Jewish Organization
The boss of LFI deputies affirms that this summons “is based” on the press release from his parliamentary group, published on in reaction to the attack of October 7. This text sparked controversy, particularly because it paralleled the attack by the Islamist movement Hamas, described as “an armed offensive by Palestinian forces”And “the intensification of the Israeli occupation policy” in the Palestinian territories.
As early as November 2023, the European Jewish Organization (EJO), a pro-Israel association which mainly brings together lawyers, announced that it was filing a complaint for advocating terrorism against Mathilde Panot. If it is impossible to establish with certainty that the summons of the elected official is directly linked to this complaint, the coordinator of LFI, Manuel Bompard, assures on that “judicial summons” of the last days are indeed the initiative of this organization. “Madame Panot has been summoned, that’s very good”Muriel Ouaknine-Melki, lawyer and president of the OJE, simply declared to AFP.
The association is also at the origin of the complaint against Rima Hassan, according to a publication on his account. She also filed two complaints against comedian Guillaume Meuriceaccusing him of anti-Semitism after a sequence targeting Benyamin Netanyahu on France Inter. These complaints were closed without further actionFranceinfo learned on Monday.
A criminal response requested by the ministry
Since 2014 and a law from the government of Manuel Valls, the offense of advocating terrorism is punishable by maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 euros when the acts are committed online, according to article 421-2-5 of the Penal Code. After the Hamas attacks, the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, signed a circular stating that “the public making of remarks praising the attacks” of the Islamist movement, “by presenting them as legitimate resistance to Israel”was to be prosecuted.
Between October 7 and April 23, 390 reports were made to the National Center for the Fight against Online Hate, franceinfo learned from the Paris prosecutor’s office. All are linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict. For comparison, in 2022, the prosecution had received 500 reports, all themes combined.
These reports come from associations, “in particular the fight against anti-Semitism and discrimination”but also from the Ministry of the Interior. “There is no self-referral of public prosecutors”specifies the Chancellery.
“We must investigate each fact that we are denounced. When a complaint is filed, it automatically opens a procedure, it is not at our discretion. Were the remarks really made in the terms complained of? , and if so, in what context?”
The Paris prosecutor’s officeat franceinfo
The Paris prosecutor’s office emphasizes that the Penal Code does not define the apology of terrorism: we must look at the case law on the subject, according to which “three elements constitute the offense of glorifying terrorism”.
First, the statement in question must relate to a terrorist act. Then it must be brought to the attention of the public. “We are not talking about advocating terrorism if a person declares something to the person next to them at the table and the other neighbor at the table denounces it, for example”, illustrates the parquet. Finally, there must be a favorable judgment on the terrorist act. A notion that evolves with case law. This says that the absence of moral disapproval is equivalent to a favorable judgment, just like providing equal consideration for a victim and for the author of a terrorist act.
Suspended prison sentence for a trade unionist
Once the context is clarified, investigators interview the targeted person. “We hear her so that she can explain herself, without prejudice to what she is accused of”, insists the prosecution. The large number of reports may justify the length of the summons deadlines. “But it seems important in any case to explain coldly about comments made in such a tense context,” and this perspective is also necessary for justice professionals who must analyze the comments submitted to them.
By summoning political figures as exposed as Mathilde Panot, “the prosecution only applies the procedure, clarifying the facts brought to its attention”observes Jean-Baptiste Thierry, professor of criminal law at the University of Lorraine.
“If the prosecution does not summon, it will be criticized for being lax, and when it summons, it comes across as a censor.”
Jean-Baptiste Thierry, professor of criminal lawat franceinfo
Among the entities recently questioned for comments made in the context of the October 7 attacks is the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA). The far-left party assures on having been summoned in November for a press release providing its “support for the Palestinians and the means of struggle that they have chosen to resist.” It concluded with the word “Intifada!”. Lhe director of publication of the NPA site was heard, but was not given “no news of the consequences that the prosecution could give”, he tells Mediapart.
Jean-Paul Delescaut, head of the CGT du Nord, was himself sentenced on April 18 to one year in prison, suspended and to pay 5,000 euros to the European Jewish Organization for moral damage. He was prosecuted after the distribution of a leaflet dating from October 10. One sentence was particularly questioned: “The horrors of the illegal occupation have been accumulating. Since Saturday [7 octobre], they receive the responses they provoked.” According to the CGT, Jean-Paul Delescaut and thedepartmental union of the union appealed.