His photo, coupled with a message presenting him as one of the “murderers” of the bus driver who died following a violent attack in Bayonne on July 5, has been massively shared on social networks in recent days. However, M., a young Bayonnais aged 29, claims to have nothing to do with the death of Philippe Monguillot, 58 years old. Feeling threatened with death, he has filed a complaint against X and hopes to be compensated.
“I started seeing photos on a few sites, then Marine Le Pen and people from the National Rally (RN) shared it. I didn't think it was going to take on such a scale, ”he told the Parisian this weekend. Indeed, several RN elected officials shared the visual to their tens or hundreds of thousands of subscribers Thursday or Friday, especially on Twitter or Facebook.
"My life is in danger"
They deleted their messages fairly quickly, seeming to have noticed their error. Thibaut Monnier, regional councilor of Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, waited Saturday afternoon to delete his (which we had made in the meantime a screenshot, on which we blurred the faces). A few minutes earlier, while his tweet was still online, Le Parisien had asked for it, in vain.
But M.'s photo had time to go around social networks. "My head has been put everywhere, I'm not there to make the buzz but my life is in danger", was alarmed this weekend on the phone the young man.
As early as Thursday evening, in a video posted on Snapchat, he complained about this mishap. The next day, he went to a police station in Bayonne to file a complaint. "I went to see the police, who told me that I did not have an up-to-date identity card, I went home and decided to go back later with a lawyer," said Saturday who wants to "claim financial damages".
Something done this Monday afternoon. A complaint against X for slanderous denunciation and defamation has been filed, according to France Bleu, and as photos published by M. on Snapchat attest.
Several years spent in prison
It remains to be seen how his photo was associated with this tragedy, for which four suspects were quickly arrested and charged, including two for attempted homicide.
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M., who admits by himself that he has already spent "a few years" in cumulative prison after several convictions for acts of delinquency ("small fights", alcohol consumption, drug trafficking, etc.), believes that the photo had been taken by the police in a police station during one of these cases. "How could this document have come out of a police station?" "Asks his lawyer, quoted by France Bleu.
Contacted, the treasurer of RN Wallerand de Saint Just, lawyer, did not answer us. As for identity activist Damien Rieu, he seemed to minimize this error on Saturday afternoon on Twitter, accusing "the media (of) hiding the names of the killers": "We find three, we are wrong on one. "
