Former captain of the French football team Patrice Evra will be tried for homophobic "
insult
" on Monday at the police court in Paris, and faces a fine for remarks targeting PSG dating from 2019, AFP has learned from a source. close to the case on Thursday.
Former defender and captain of Manchester United, Patrice Evra was unleashed on social networks in March 2019 after a victory for the Mancunians against PSG in the Champions League, insulting the former Parisian player Jérôme Rothen then launching in particular “
Paris, you are queers, you're PD... Here, it's the men who talk
”.
The player, accustomed to insults in the media or social networks, then posted a new message to apologize, ensuring that he was not homophobic.
The Mousse and Stop Homophobia associations, supported by the anti-homophobia collective Rouge Direct, had filed a complaint, and Mr. Evra was indicted for “
public insult towards a group of people because of their sexual orientation
”.
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The player had admitted before the judge to have made the disputed remarks, evoking facts which would have taken place on March 15, 2019, "
date of the birthday of footballer Paul Pogba
".
In his order for remand dated May 5, the investigating judge considers that Patrice Evra "
spoke in a private setting for the making of a video which was then published on Snapchat without his knowledge
".
“
The comments were therefore made in a non-confidential, but not public manner
”, and Mr. Evra “
did not intend to make his words public
”.
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The non-public insult causes Mr. Pogba to incur a fine, in this case a fine of 1,500 euros, and earns him to appear Monday morning, October 17, before the Paris police court.
If the offense of public insult had been retained, Mr. Evra would have appeared before the criminal court and would have been liable to one year's imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros.
Asked, his lawyer did not respond to AFP.
For Etienne Deshoulières, lawyer for the associations, “
the use of this homophobic insult by a former captain of the France team is not insignificant.
This reinforces the climate of homophobia present in professional football.
For Julien Pontes, spokesperson for the Collectif Rouge Direct, "
this trial is an unmissable opportunity to affirm that the impunity of homophobia in football is over
", which would be, according to him, a strong signal. “
a few weeks from the World Cup in Qatar
”.