The controversial comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala was tried in correctional court on Monday for racist and anti-Semitic remarks he allegedly made in June 2017, as part of his performance of the " ball of dumplings ", at his home in Saint -Lubin-de-la-Haye (Eure-et-Loir). The judgment was reserved for September 10.
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On September 1, 2017, he reportedly mentioned “ the Krakow pajamas ball ”, in reference to the attire worn by Jewish deportees from the Auschwitz extermination camp in Poland during the Second World War.
Present at the start of the hearing, the polemicist left the courthouse around 3.30 pm, an hour after his arrival: " I would have gladly spoken with the judge but I have a daily program that I host at 7:00 pm! "He told the press on the court forecourt. " I find it insulting, even obscene, to come and disturb a court to talk about sketches. There, it is about a character (note, of plumber) to which one would like to make say things. The character should have been summoned , "added Dieudonné before leaving the court.
" Dieudonne has not made many people laugh for a long time "
For his lawyer Maître Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, this procedure was " inappropriate " because "'' Le Bal des Quenelles '' does not take place in a public place but in a private place. "And, it is not established, according to her," by a statement or even a recording that the expression pursued would have been pronounced by Mr. Dieudonné M'bala M'bala on June 17, 2017 in Saint-Lubin-de- the Hague ”.
“ It is a journalist of the weekly Les '' Inrockuptibles '' who affirms it. While the investigators used a video recording which was captured in Nyon (Switzerland) on June 2, 2017. No one attacked this recording, ”argued the lawyer.
It specifies that " the author of the expression '' Gang of Krakow pajamas '', targeted by the prosecution on denunciation by the association of the National Bureau of Vigilance against Antisemitism and the association Ben-Gurion, was coined by Germain Gaiffe-Cohen, whose grandmother was deported to Auschwitz and where she died ” . " The idea of Germain Gaiffe-Cohen is to denounce associations which do not in fact defend the interests of the Jews ", she added, pleading for release.
Arguments which did not convince the prosecutor of the Republic of Chartres, Rémi Coutin, who qualified these remarks as " scandalous and inadmissible " . " Monsieur Dieudonné M'bala M'bala has not been making many people laugh for a long time, " he added. The prosecutor demanded 10,000 euros in fines. Dieudonné faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.
