More than six years after the events, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) dismissed the far-right polemicist Éric Zemmour on Tuesday.
The body validated his conviction by the French justice for provocation to discrimination and religious hatred towards the Muslim community, after remarks made on France 5 in 2016.
“The Court considers that the interference with the exercise by the applicant of his right to freedom of expression was necessary in a democratic society in order to protect the rights of others”, explains the ECHR.
The latter considers that the French courts have therefore not violated the freedom of expression of the candidate in the last presidential election.
The former journalist made these remarks on September 16, 2016, on the set of "C à vous", as part of the promotion of his book entitled "A five-year term for nothing".
The polemicist had notably considered that Muslims should be given "the choice between Islam and France" and that France had been living "for 30 years under an invasion", affirming that "in countless French suburbs where many young girls are veiled" was a "struggle to Islamize a territory", "a jihad".
His cassation appeal rejected in 2019
After a first conviction in 2017 then a new conviction on appeal in May 2018, Éric Zemmour appealed to the Court of Cassation.
He had been definitively sentenced to a fine of 3,000 euros for incitement to religious hatred in September 2019, before announcing to seize the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The ECHR, the judicial arm of the Council of Europe, "considers that these remarks were not limited to a criticism of Islam but contained, given the context of terrorist attacks in which they took place, a discriminatory intention to nature to call listeners to the rejection and exclusion of the Muslim community”.
"Given the State's margin of appreciation in the present case, and the applicant's order to pay a fine of 3,000 euros, which is not excessive, the Court is convinced that the disputed interference (Editor’s note: in the right to freedom of expression of Éric Zemmour) was proportionate to the aim pursued”, estimated the court based in Strasbourg.
