Yououtubeuse Nadjelika, who lives in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), did not make the trip this time to the Paris court, where his trial was to be held this Wednesday for having called a black policeman "sold" during of a demonstration in Paris against police violence.
Because as foreseen by his lawyer, Me Arié Alimi, the hearing before the 17th correctional chamber was, for the second time, postponed: a stay of proceedings was decided, pending a decision of the Constitutional Council.
The defendant's lawyer had indeed seized the Sages of the rue de Montpensier with a priority question of constitutionality (QPC) in mid-January.
At issue, the qualification of the offense retained by the prosecution: contempt of a person holding public authority of a racial nature.
"My client should have been dismissed for insult, and not contempt, as is the case in this kind of case," pointed out the defense lawyer, before the hearing.
Outrage or insult?
Contempt, which falls under the Penal Code, is more severely punished than insult (press law of 1881), which punishes its author with a simple fine.
“There is a breach of equality.
What the Court of Cassation heard, considering that it was necessary to refer this QPC to the Constitutional Council.
It's a first victory, ”said Arié Alimi.
Me Sandra Chirac Kollarik, the lawyer for the police officer, Nawir A., for her part deplored this new request for dismissal, of which her client "is the hostage".
“We're up against the wall,” she sighed.
The Constitutional Council has three months to decide.
The criminal court, which "found the QPC admissible", therefore decided to wait for the court's conclusions before setting a new hearing date.
"You're on their side!"
The facts alleged against Nadjelika took place on June 2, during a demonstration in Paris against police violence organized by the Adama Traoré committee, a young black man who died at the gendarmerie in Persan (Val-d'Oise) in 2016. In the crowd, the YouTuber Nadjelika, whose video diary displays up to a million views, had pointed a finger at a black policeman.
" Shame on you!
Sold!
You're on their side!
She had exploded.
This viral sequence had sparked a shower of indignation.
"Total support for the official of the PP
(Editor's note: police headquarters)
who was the subject of abject remarks during the demonstration on June 2," said the Paris police prefect, Didier Lallement, on Twitter.
The official, represented by lawyers Pascal Rouiller and Sandra Chirac Kollarik, did not appear at the hearing on Wednesday either.
