One hundred and forty hours of community service were required Monday in correctional services in Rouen (Seine-Maritime) against a man who admitted to having treated Minister Gérald Darmanin of "dirty rapist" on July 26 in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during a tribute ceremony to Father Hamel assassinated in 2016 in this town.
“To tell a person that they are a rapist is an outrage.
There is a certain aggressiveness in the terms used, ”said deputy prosecutor Aurélie Viguier.
The magistrate requested 140 hours of community service with execution within 18 months and three months in prison for non-execution.
The court will deliver its decision on December 14.
"It came out like that"
At the bar, the defendant admitted to having launched "dirty rapist, Darmanin, dirty rapist", while the Minister of the Interior was at the desk outside the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a town of the agglomeration of Rouen, to deliver a tribute speech.
For the magistrate, this fitter in the automotive industry, a member of the CGT, “came to insult the minister.
He was not there by chance […] There is a will to harm ”.
“It's true that I shouted.
I'm not sure why but it came out like that, I hadn't planned anything in advance, ”however assured the defendant at the bar, reading his statement in a somewhat hesitant tone.
“Even though I know I didn't use the right words, I don't regret having spoken because it is one of the only ways to be heard now,” he added.
Demonstration in court
"By prosecuting" the young man for contempt and not for defamation, "the public prosecutor violated the fundamental freedoms of the defendant," said his lawyer Chloé Chalot.
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At the call of the CGT, several dozen people, including a few yellow vests, demonstrated Monday in front of the court, from mid-day to mid-evening, to the cry of "relax, relax for Valentine, Demonstrate is not a crime ".
A "uproar" which pushed the president of the Assize Court to suspend a trial held in another room until Tuesday, unrelated to that brought for contempt.
This afternoon in #Rouen, a man is being tried for shouting “dirty rapist” when @GDarmanin came to Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray last July.
In support, a rally in front of the Courthouse is scheduled from 12 p.m. # Thread ⬇️ https://t.co/3A2nqv8u5E
- Jean-Baptiste Morel (@JB__Morel) November 23, 2020
Gérald Darmanin has been the subject since 2017 of a complaint for rape of a woman who had requested him in 2009 to try to have a conviction overturned.
For the Minister, it was on the contrary a voluntary relationship.
Filed without further action at first, the procedure was relaunched by the Paris Court of Appeal which requested new investigations in early June.
