Eric Zemmour, 62, is once again referred to the Paris Criminal Court.
This time for having, "as an author", insulted Hapsatou Sy "because of her origin and her belonging (or her non-belonging) to an ethnic group and a nation by declaring:
Mademoiselle… it is your first name which is an insult to France
”.
The order for reference, of which Le Parisien-Today en France has taken note, dates from October 26.
The facts go back to September 13, 2018 during the filming of the program “Les Terriens du dimanche!
»On the C8 channel (Canal + group).
The host Thierry Ardisson begins by seeking the opinion of his guest Eric Zemmour on the first name of the daughter of Rachida Dati (Zohra).
The polemicist then affirms that the first names given to French children must “normally” be found in the list of Christian saints on the calendar.
"So you want my name to be called?"
Columnist in the same program, Hapsatou Sy, born in France in 1981 to a Senegalese father and a Mauritanian mother, is indignant by evoking her personal case.
Eric Zemmour cannot be dismantled.
"Your mother was wrong to call you that ..." he said in reference to his first name widespread in Africa, much less in France.
"So you want my name to be called?"
»Asks Hapsatou Sy.
"Corinne, that would suit you very well ..." retorts Eric Zemmour, triggering laughter from Thierry Ardisson and part of the public in this sequence broadcast on C8 on September 16, 2018.
But during the filming, the current columnist of the CNews channel (Canal + group) goes even further by making remarks likely to be penalized and not broadcast by the channel.
"It is your first name which is an insult to France," thus develops Eric Zemmour.
France is not a virgin land.
It is a land with a history, with a past.
And the first names embody the history of France.
»Then advised by Me Eric Dupond-Moretti (who became Minister of Justice in July), Hapsatou Sy, 39, then files a complaint with the constitution of civil party for provocation to discrimination and hatred because of his origin.
Eric Zemmour was indicted in September for racial insult.
"The remarks made were not broadcast on the air"
"The words are outrageous and insulting, typically
Zemourrians
, and there was no question for my client to let them pass, reacts Me Antoine Vey, lawyer for Hapsatou Sy, now host of a program on C8.
Because she is not the only one to feel outraged by this type of invective aimed at calling into question her belonging to the French community.
Beyond the insult to which my client was a victim, millions of French people can indeed feel outraged by this type of comment.
Ms. Sy therefore wishes to go to the end of this procedure to obtain yet another conviction of Mr. Zemmour for facts which are totally similar.
"
Contacted, Eric Zemmour's lawyer announces his intention to appeal the referral order.
"The words referred to have been decontextualized and do not constitute an offense," says Olivier Pardo.
I observe that the comments made were not broadcast on the air, which is still very paradoxical in a case of public defamation.
Finally, I would remind you that out of eleven similar cases concerning Mr. Zemmour, there was only one final conviction.
Two are being debated, one before the Court of Cassation, the other before the European Court of Human Rights.
And all the others have been released ”.