A man who had cyberharassed the ecologist deputy Sandrine Rousseau for nearly a year, sending her up to several dozen messages a day, was sentenced on Wednesday to twelve months in prison suspended by the Marseille criminal court.
“
I am completely sorry
,” explained this desocialized 44-year-old living with his mother in Aubagne, on the outskirts of Marseille, whose probationary suspension was accompanied by an obligation of care for three years.
He is also prohibited from contacting the victim.
Uninterrupted stream of messages
Between April 2022 and February 2023, via various digital platforms but also by email, he had sent the MP hundreds of messages, varying between words of love, hate, threats or of a sexual nature.
“
He used all possible means: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, email
”, “
he had a total obsession with me.
He sent me up to 70 messages a day
, ”the Green MP, who was not at the hearing, told AFP.
"
I wanted her to take me into consideration, I felt alone
", tried to explain the defendant, admitting to having "
fallen madly in love with Ms. Rousseau
".
Faced with this uninterrupted stream of messages, often of a misogynistic, pornographic or even anti-Semitic nature, the Green MP had twice filed a complaint against this man who wrote on social networks under his real name.
He had also sent him his personal number, allowing him to be formally identified.
Isolation and addictions
A daily consumer of ecstasy and unemployed, he felt that "
his completely desocialized situation, loneliness, isolation and addictions
" had led him to act in this way.
A psychiatric report described him suffering from "
adjustment disorders and major social isolation
", but without impaired discernment.
Promising at the bar to “
never harass anyone again
”, the defendant expressed his desire to “
want to fit into society
”, in particular “
thanks to music
”.
In 2018, he had already been sentenced to community service for threatening and harassing a YouTuber specializing in video games.
Alongside other elected members of her environmental group in the National Assembly, Sandrine Rousseau revealed on February 20 the threats they suffered, especially on social networks.
They had published on Instagram, under the hashtag “
Balance ton intimidation
”, the worst of the hateful, racist, and sexist threats they received regularly.
