"It's scandalous"
.
The mayor (LR) of Lavaur Bernard Carayon said he was
“shocked”
this Thursday when he learned of the acquittal of rapper Médine by the Albi judicial court.
The artist from Le Havre was called to appear in court for the first time on January 25 for
“public and direct provocation without effect to commit a crime or misdemeanor”
against two Tarn elected officials.
In question, a video posted on his Instagram account last April by the rapper subscribed to controversies, who has been reported on several occasions for provocative and knowingly ambiguous remarks.
While he was planning a concert in Albi, in Tarn, this project sparked a strong reaction on the right.
The Tarnes far-right group Patria Albigès had called for the cancellation of the concert, scheduled for April 1 at the Athanor, the Albi performance hall.
Two right-wing elected officials, Bernard Carayon and the deputy (RN) of Tarn Frédéric Cabrolier, then supported this request, fearing
“disturbances to public order”
.
In
“response”
, Médine then filmed himself throwing darts at the pinned photos of the two concerned, before publishing the video on his networks.
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.
During the trial, the public prosecutor requested a 3,000 euro fine against the rapper.
After the acquittal decided this Thursday, Bernard Carayon affirms his intention to appeal.
For his lawyer, Philippe Fontana, the court's decision is
“an immunity given to the rapper”.
“Justice does not want to take things seriously,”
denounces the lawyer, recalling that the artist had not been prosecuted after having treated the writer Rachel Khan, granddaughter of Jewish deportees, last August as
“ resKHANpée»
.
During his hearing in the Albi affair, the same Médine notably qualified Bernard Carayon as a
“political adversary”,
the lawyer wishes to point out.
“Medina is, let us not forget, a traveling companion of the Muslim brothers
,” also recalls Me Fontana, in reference to the singer's role as ambassador to the Havre de Savoir association.
This Norman organization has notably defended in its publications the presumption of innocence of Mohammed Merah, the terrorist of Toulouse and Montauban, or received in conferences various personalities close to the Muslim Brotherhood, such as Nabil Ennasri, researcher close to the Brotherhood movement, the imam Iquioussen, expelled from France, or the intellectual Tariq Ramadan.
Which was also said to be
“very very close to Medina”
.
The mayor of Lavaur Bernard Carayon deplores that the justice system
“encourages”
by its decision
“provocations, even attacks against all those who denounce Islamist entryism”.
“Under the cover of artistic immunity, it is political immunity
,” believes the elected official who was also among those who opposed Medina’s concert at the Bataclan in 2018. Three years after the Paris attacks, this project, from the man who sang in his last album
“let's crucify the secularists”
and presented himself as an
“Islamo-caillera”,
had triggered an outcry on the right.
Considering himself unfairly attacked, Medina finally opted for the Zenith room.