CORRECTIVE. A first version of this article stipulated that Eric Zemmour had been convicted of “incitement to racial hatred” and “defamation” in the two proceedings of February 2011. However, he was released on the “defamation” section. We apologize to the individual and our readers for this error.
Before confirming his presidential ambitions, Eric Zemmour plays the watch. Justice, it follows its own rhythm: the polemicist, head of the show “Face à l’Info” on CNews, finds himself on the judicial scene, Wednesday, September 8, on charges of “insult” and “incitement to racial hatred”. These two cases concern comments made in 2019 and 2020, two of the many controversial outings that have punctuated the writer’s career. On a dozen cases, the author of French suicide has been sentenced definitively on three occasions, and four are still pending. Franceinfo recaps.
A trial for his comments on unaccompanied minors
This is the case that earned Eric Zemmour a summons to appear before the Paris court on Wednesday. On September 29, 2020, during a debate in “Face à l’info” on CNews, the columnist got carried away about unaccompanied minors: “They have nothing to do here, they are thieves, they are murderers, they are rapists (…).“
Several associations, such as the Human Rights League (LDH), have formed a civil party, but also many departments responsible for the management of unaccompanied minors. Faced with this unprecedented number of civil parties (38 according to Marianne), Eric Zemmour’s lawyer, Olivier Pardo, told Franceinfo that he would ask for the trial to be postponed.
Appeal judgment awaited after rant on Islam
The case could also find its outcome on September 8. During the “Convention of the Right” in September 2019, organized by relatives of the former far-right MP Marion Maréchal, the polemicist delivered a virulent speech. He stated, among other things, that “all our problems worsened by immigration are worsened by islam“, that a”colonization reversal“was in progress to achieve a”Catholic heterosexual white man exterminationHe was fined 10,000 euros for “insult” and “incitement to hatred” in September 2020, but appealed.
Sentences for “incitement to racial hatred” and “incitement to religious hatred”
In February 2011, the polemicist was found guilty of “inciting racial hatred” in two proceedings. On March 6, 2010, on the set of the Canal + program “Salut les Terrens”, Eric Zemmour reacted to comments on facial checks: “But why are we checked 17 times? Why ? Because most of the traffickers are black and Arab! It is like that, it is a fact …“The same day, on France Ô, he explained that the employers”have the right“to refuse Arabs or blacks. Words that earned him a fine of 2,000 euros. The Paris Criminal Court, however, acquitted Eric Zemmour of the offense of “public defamation”, as explained at the time. Le Monde (paid item). The polemicist did not appeal.
Another condemnation concerns comments made on France 5, in “C à vous”. Eric Zemmour affirmed, in September 2016, that France suffered “for thirty years an invasion“, with in some suburbs a”struggle to Islamize a territory“, and that should be given to Muslims”the choice between Islam and France“. He was definitively fined 3,000 euros in September 2019 for” provoking religious hatred “. After seeing his cassation appeal rejected, he seized the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights) in December 2019, claiming that France was violating his freedom of expression.Under French law, however, his conviction is considered final.
Two ongoing complaints for “public insults” and “racist insults”
Eric Zemmour is also prosecuted for racist insult by the columnist Hapsatou Sy, whose first name he had qualified “insult to France” on the set of “Salut les Terrens”, in September 2018. The host, who recently left the Canal + group, lodged a complaint for “racist insult”. The trial is scheduled to take place in September 2022.
The polemicist had also qualified the journalist Taha Bouhafs of “Islamist activist“on CNews, in November 2020. He lodged a complaint in February against Eric Zemmour and the channel for” public insult. “According to Arié Alimi, lawyer for Taha Bouhafs contacted by franceinfo, the investigation is underway.
I am once again the target of the sickening racism of Eric Zemmour, with the blessing of @christine_kelly and of @CNEWS.
Enough is enough I file a complaint against this racist and the channel that pays him. pic.twitter.com/KhPBRUneKi
– Taha Bouhafs (@T_Bouhafs) November 30, 2020
Relaxed in four cases
Not all trials resulted in a conviction: in four cases, Eric Zemmour avoided sanctions. As early as 2008, he was prosecuted for “defamation” by the former president of the Representative Council of Black Associations (Cran), Patrick Lozès. In 2014, it was in an Italian newspaper that Eric Zemmour declared that Muslims “have their Civil Code, it is the Koran“, and that they”live among themselves, in the suburbs. The French were forced to leave.“He was accused of” incitement to hatred “before being released in 2018.
He was also released on charges of “inciting racial hatred” in 2014 after his comments on “bands“foreigners”who rob, violate or rob“, on RTL. Finally, the proceedings against him in 2019 for” contesting crimes against humanity “, after his remarks on Marshal Pétain who allegedly “Safe” French Jews during the Occupation also ended in an acquittal last February. Licra has nevertheless appealed against this decision, and the hearing is set for January 20, 2022.