It is no longer this time at the Huma Festival, or at the summer school of a NUPES party, that the rapper Médine Zaouiche will have to explain himself - but, for the first time, in front of a tribunal.
Indicted for provocation without effect to commit a crime or misdemeanor, the artist from Le Havre will be judged during a hearing scheduled for this Thursday afternoon, January 25, at the Albi judicial court.
In question, a video posted on his Instagram account last April, when his appearance in concert in Albi had aroused strong opposition from right-wing elected officials who requested the cancellation of the concert by the prefect.
In this video, Médine notably threw darts at images of two elected officials, the mayor (LR) of Lavaur Bernard Carayon, and the deputy (RN) of Tarn Frédéric Cabrolier.
The rapper, who does not intend to attend the hearing, is defended by Me Nadia Zrari and Me Solène Debarre.
“This is the first time that Médine has been taken to court for an offense of this nature
,” specifies Bernard Carayon’s lawyer, Me Philippe Fontana, who also emphasizes that
“Médine has never been convicted for his numerous provocations, notably that against Rachel Khan
.
In a tweet written in August, the rapper spoke of the essayist and columnist as a
“resKHANpée”
, after the indignation expressed by Rachel Khan at the announcement of Medina's invitation to the environmentalists' summer days .
A message perceived as anti-Semitic by the person concerned, who indicated in an interview with Le
Monde
that this word
“survivor”
insulted the memory of her mother,
“survivor of the Shoah”
.
Read also: Rima Abdul Malak is outraged by “anti-Semitic remarks and attitudes” in Medina
According to her, Medina is a
“multiple offender of hate speech”
.
Médine is notably regularly referred to the words of a song from his repertoire:
“Let's crucify the secularists like in Golgotha”
(Don't Laïk) or even
“I hate white people since Rodney King, I need a rifle / The White people are demons / We don't have the same skin, each for his own skin”
(Angle of attack).
Medina faces 5 years in prison and a €45,000 fine
Médine had not been worried about his comments about Rachel Khan, and had apologized in an interview with Le
Parisien
.
But in the case of the video in which he throws darts at Bernard Carayon and Frédéric Cabrolier, the prosecution immediately took up the facts, and the two elected officials, who received the public support of the prefect of Tarn François-Xavier Lauch , filed a complaint.
Médine had previously been summoned to an appearance on prior admission of guilt, in November, but had not attended: the procedure was in fact incompatible with an offense punishable by the law on freedom of the press of 1881. This time , he faces a sentence of up to 5 years' imprisonment and a fine of €45,000 before the judicial court.
“Medine is a dangerous being, a traveling companion of the Muslim Brotherhood, but also a dissimulator, because he constantly defends himself from it
,” comments Mr. Philippe Fontana.
“He designated my client as a political adversary and thus puts an elected official in danger, in a context where elected officials are more and more often targeted.”