The Paris Criminal Court sentenced Eric Zemmour to a fine of 10,000 euros for incitement to hatred on Monday, judged in his absence in November for having qualified on CNews unaccompanied minor migrants as "thieves", "murderers", "rapists". .
In the wake of the announcement of this judgment, the lawyer for the now presidential candidate, Me Olivier Pardo, declared that he had recommended that his client appeal this decision, considering that the fate reserved for him "no is not the same" as for other litigants.
Believing that the polemicist now far-right presidential candidate had been guilty of incitement to hatred and racial insult, the prosecution had requested a sentence of 100 day-fine to 100 euros, or 10,000 euros fine with possibility of imprisonment in case of non-payment.
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The candidate for the supreme office, who had shunned the hearing on November 17, was not to be present this Monday before the 17th correctional chamber for the reading of the judgment, said his lawyer, Olivier Pardo, who had requested the release.
Already prosecuted on numerous occasions for racial insult, incitement to hatred or contestation of crimes against humanity, Éric Zemmour was this time summoned to appear by the prosecution for his remarks on unaccompanied minor migrants.
“A political position”, according to his lawyer
On September 29, 2020, during a debate in the program "Face à l'info" on CNews after an attack in front of the ex-locals of Charlie Hebdo, the polemicist affirmed: "They have nothing to do here, they are thieves, they are murderers, they are rapists, that's all they are, they have to be fired and they must not even come”.
"It's a permanent invasion", "it's a problem of immigration policy", he then vociferated in this program of which he was a columnist.
“Contemptuous, outrageous remarks” which show “a violent rejection” and a “hate” of the immigrant population and which have crossed “the limits of freedom of expression”, had estimated the representative of the public prosecutor.
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“There is not an ounce of racism in Éric Zemmour” who only says “the reality”, sometimes in a “brutal way, with his words”, had supported Me Olivier Pardo, evoking “a political position”.
For the council, the citation for incitement to racial hatred did not hold: "Unaccompanied minors are neither a race, nor a nation, nor an ethnic group".
