Eric Zemmour was not in the courtroom.
The trial of the far-right polemicist, tried for provocation to racial hatred following his virulent diatribe on unaccompanied minors on CNews in 2020, opened as planned without him, Wednesday, November 17 before the 17th correctional chamber of Paris.
A handful of young supporters of the essayist, members of the Z association which supports the very potential presidential candidate, briefly deployed a French flag in front of the courthouse where the hearing, which began at 9:30 am, continued in 22 hours, after the prosecution's indictment.
The prosecutor requested 10,000 euros fine, or 100 day-fines to 100 euros with the possibility of imprisonment in case of non-payment. The magistrate highlighted "the violence of the words and the context in which they were pronounced" as well as the fact that Eric Zemmour "already has a judicial past". Qualifying the words of the polemicist as "contemptuous and outrageous", she believes that the polemicist was guilty of incitement to hatred and racial insult. "The limits of freedom of expression have been crossed," she insisted.
Ten hours earlier, all those involved in this long-awaited and followed trial had been immediately warned.
"The court will be particularly vigilant to the serenity of the debates," warned President Delphine Chauchis.
It is precisely to preserve the "serenity of the debates" that Eric Zemmour, ready to come to assume and explain his remarks qualifying the unaccompanied minors "of assassins, rapists and thieves" and his lawyer Me Olivier Pardo had fallen from agreement that the 63-year-old journalist does not appear at the hearing.
"They are here to play politics"
The magistrate's warning did not prevent the exchanges from quickly taking an electric turn on the question of the admissibility of some of the thirty-seven civil parties. "They are here to play politics", criticized Me Pardo about the twenty departmental councils who came to defend the reputation of these unaccompanied minors and thereby the honor of their services "which must protect and 'welcome this vulnerable population with dignity', as a member of the Children's Social Aid told us on Tuesday.
"Three-quarters are inadmissible and they know it very well, they are only there to make numbers," protested Me Olivier Baratelli, lawyer for the publication director of CNews, continued alongside the former star columnist of the chain. Then the defense requested the adjournment of the hearing, provoking vehement reactions from the civil parties. “It's a strategy. We do not want the comments to be judged and we no longer know how to ask you ”, exclaimed Me Patrick Klugman on behalf of SOS Racisme. The court dismissed the referral request, and then the defense got into a procedural battle.
As he had entrusted to the Parisian, Me Pardo maintained that the lawsuits against Eric Zemmour made no legal sense.
"When we say 'the Arabs', we know what we are talking about," he said.
But unaccompanied minors are neither a race, nor a nation, nor an ethnic group ”.
In turn, Mr. Baratelli monopolized the floor for two hours, citing one by one the civil parties whose legitimacy he contested in this procedure, tense the court by the length of his exercise.
"A moment of hegemony of racist thought"
Seven hours later, the court addressed the merits of the case, broadcasting the extract from the program “Face à l'Info” of September 29, 2020 where Éric Zemmour makes his exit on unaccompanied minors, in a post-attack context. against the former local Charlie Hebdo in Paris.
The court examined the matter in less than an hour, leaving the civil parties to plead.
"Today we are objectively in a moment of hegemony of racist thought", began Me Arié Alimi, for the Human Rights League, recalling that "there is a possibility that Mr. Zemmour will become president of the Republic ”and calling on the tribunal to be firm“ in a moment of history when anything can happen ”.
After 10 p.m., Mes Pardo and Baratelli were preparing to plead the release of the two defendants.