Faced with a room filled with journalists and security forces, the Nanterre public prosecutor's office demanded, Wednesday, February 10, a fine of 5,000 euros against Marine Le Pen and Gilbert Collard.
The president of the National Rally (RN) and the MEP appear in court for posting photos of abuses by the Islamic State (IS) on December 16, 2015 on Twitter and Facebook, in response to what they believed to be a comparison
"unworthy" and "unacceptable"
between the FN and Daesh made by the journalist Jean-Jacques Bourdin on RMC.
Read also: Marine Le Pen and Gilbert Collard on trial this Wednesday for tweeting photos of Daesh abuses
Marine Le Pen and Gilbert Collard readily admit being the source of the messages concerned: the photos of a Syrian soldier run over by a tank, of a Jordanian pilot burned alive in a cage and of an American journalist beheaded, his head posed on the back, accompanied by the comment
“Daech, that's it”,
for the first;
the cliché of a man on the ground, disfigured face, sunken skull, completed with the sentence "
Bourdin compares the FN to Daesh: the weight of words and the shock of sores!",
for the second.
But in their eyes and those of their defense, the offense with which they are accused is not constituted.
Article 227-24 of the Penal Code provides that
“the fact of disseminating a message of a violent nature
likely
to seriously undermine human dignity is punishable by three years' imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros when this message is likely to be seen by a minor ”
.
"It is the crime, not the photographic reproduction of the crime, which attacks human dignity!"
protests Marine Le Pen, black pants and a long green jacket.
Three years in prison incurred
Taking the example of the snapshot representing little Aylan, a migrant child who died on a beach in Turkey, the politician continues:
“This photo was published by all of the French media without the prosecution ever finding a reason to engage. a lawsuit of any kind.
I think that if this procedure was initiated, it is obviously because I was a political opponent.
[...] I think that the right to inform requires to be able to distribute photos, as shocking as they are ”
.
Gilbert Collard, blue pants and black jacket, abounds in the same direction.
“If tomorrow I am facing someone who denies the Shoah, I am perfectly capable of showing him a photo of the camps.
If I am faced with someone who denies violence against women, I can show him photos of abused women! ”,
Underlines the MEP, who says he is
“ very hurt ”
by this procedure.
Read also: Under pressure, Marine Le Pen withdraws the photo of the execution of James Foley
For his part, the prosecutor assumes the proceedings against the defendants:
"
Should
we prosecute everyone or no one?"
It is not possible.
There is necessarily a choice to be made, and this choice is made according to the impact on public order that an action may have.
In this case, there was a disturbance to public order brought about by this affair
”.
Insisting on the fact that Marine Le Pen and Gilbert Collard should have
"made sure that no minor was likely to see these messages before they are broadcast"
, the representative of the public prosecution requires a 5,000 euros fine.
The hearing now continues with the defense pleadings.
