Singer Enrico Macias made controversial remarks earlier this week on television about rebellious France. The LFI party has now reported them to the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Enrico Macias and La France insoumise have been at the heart of a controversy since Tuesday October 10, after an intervention by the singer on CNews, three days after the Hamas attack against Israel. We’ll explain it to you.
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What did Enrico Macias say?
Singer Enrico Macias was a guest on Tuesday October 10 on the show Time for the Pros 2 hosted by Pascal Praud, on CNews. He then denounces the position of La France insoumise after the massive attack by Hamas against Israel on Saturday October 7. LFI which refuses to qualify the Islamist organization of Hamas as “terrorist”.
“When I hear the far left giving up in the face of this horror, well you force me to say what I didn’t want to say: we have to kill these people”says Enrico Macias. “Politically”specifies Pascal Praud. “Of course, but maybe physically”adds the 84-year-old singer, also describing the members of LFI as “accomplices” of Hamas.
What does LFI say?
Following these comments, the parliamentary group La France insoumise alerted the Paris prosecutor’s office on Wednesday October 11. The boss of LFI deputies, Mathilde Panot, wrote to the Paris public prosecutor on the basis of article 40 of the code of criminal procedure which says that “any constituted authority, any public officer or civil servant who, in the exercise of his functions, acquires knowledge of a crime or misdemeanor is required to give notice without delay to the public prosecutor and to transmit to this magistrate all the information, minutes and acts relating thereto”. In other words, this article allows him to report facts or comments to the courts.
In this case, the words of Enrico Macias “appear to constitute an offense of provocation without effect” according to Mathilde Panot. The term “dégommage” East “a call to physically attack the members of France Insoumise”she specifies, knowing that this is part of a context “constant threats to La France insoumise”. “These comments (…) endanger the lives of certain members of LFI”also assures Thomas Portes, La France insoumise deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis.
Furthermore, by qualifying rebellious elected officials as “accomplices” of Hamas, it is an accusation of “public defamation” for the leader of LFI in the National Assembly.
What does Enrico Macias risk?
Concerning the “crime of provocation not followed by effect” of which Mathilde Panot speaks, article 24 of the law of July 29, 1881 indicates that those who have directly provoked the commission of offenses, such as “intentional attacks on life, attacks on personal integrity and sexual assault, defined by Book II of the Penal Code” will be punished with five years of imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros.
For the offense of “public defamation” which appears in the letter to the Paris public prosecutor’s office, it is already necessary to clarify the distinction between “public defamation” and “non-public defamation” that the justice system makes. Defamation is “public” when it can be heard, seen or read by a large number of people or by the general public. The law punishes public defamation more severely because it “therefore causes more serious harm to the person who suffers it”explains the authorities.
The law of July 29, 1881 defines a general case where public defamation against a private person or a group of private people is punishable by a fine of 12,000 euros. But, in the case where this public defamation aims “the President of the Republic, one or more members of the ministry (…) a citizen entrusted with a service or a public mandate”as here for LFI elected officials, article 31 provides for a fine of 45,000 euros.