“Rachida Dati minister, bad news for France, good news for Paris.
Passive corruption, concealment of abuse of power, influence peddling... Great track record!
» With these words, the deputy mayor of Paris in charge of disability, Lamia El Aaraje, reacted, on January 11, to the announcement of discussions between the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic and the mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris for the post of Minister of Culture.
On Tuesday, the deputy mayor of the capital was ordered by the judge to delete her tweet, published on January 11, and to pay a fine of 5,000 euros to Rachida Dati for violating the presumption of innocence.
Lamia El Aaraje has already indicated that she will appeal this decision.
Thank you to @GroupePEC
Faced with this surprising conviction, I will obviously appeal in order to preserve my freedom of expression and continue to denounce the actions of Ms. Dati, having a #BeauPalmares of indictments https://t.co/E1Nu8Hpgd9
— Lamia El Aaraje (@lamiaela) March 12, 2024
Believing that Lamia El Aaraje is simply recalling “facts” when she discusses the indictments of Rachida Dati, the Paris en commun group and the Socialists of Paris to which she belongs published press releases announcing their support for the deputy.
“This unprecedented decision poses real concern for freedom of expression and democratic debate,” reacts Paris in common.
Rachida Dati was indicted on July 22, 2021 for “passive corruption” and “concealment of abuse of power” as part of the investigation into consulting services to Carlos Ghosn, the former boss of the Renault automobile group -Nissan.
To “harm him politically”
“Rachida Dati invokes the existence of a fault committed by Lamia El Aaraje,” indicates the interim order obtained by Le Parisien.
A fault “linked to the attack on the presumption of innocence (…) since she is presented in the words of the first as guilty of the facts for which she is being prosecuted, without reservation or caution in these assertions”.
Rachida Dati considers these assertions “reported not for information purposes but in order to harm her politically and to exploit the legal procedure to which she is subject for strictly political purposes”, continues the order.
For her part, Lamia El Aaraje affirms that “the use of the term
prize list
refers to a humorous and ironic tone which reflects a distance from the remarks made”.
The deputy “finally maintains that she could express herself as she did since her comments were based on factual elements available to the public and which could legitimately raise questions on her part.
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