The two accused, alumni of the group generation identity dissolved in 2021, were sentenced to four months suspended prison sentence and a fine of 5,000 euros.
MO12345LEMOND With AFP
Two former members of Generation Identity, far -right group dissolved in 2021, were sentenced Tuesday, February 21 in Lyon on Tuesday, for hateful tweets targeting the rector of the Lyon Kamel Kabtane mosque. The two accused, a former spokesperson and an ex-mining of the group, were sentenced by the criminal court to four months in prison suspended and a fine of 5,000 euros to pay jointly.
They were accused of “public provocation to hatred” after targeting in 2020 Mr. Kabtane, accused of calling for prayer during confinement. The latter had explained at the time that the only call for prayer launched in Lyon during the confinement had been that of March 25, 2020, at the same time as the bells of all the churches of France in solidarity with the caregivers. But the identities had continued to take the target rector. 2>
Only two of the three authors were identified
At the time, Generation Identity had projected visuals on the minaret of the mosque denouncing these calls for Muslim prayer which, according to them, had resonated during confinement. The identities had also published on social networks a petition demanding the expulsion of the rector to Algeria and several hateful tweets, one of which displaying the photo of Mr. Kabtane alongside that of Salah Abdeslam, who participated in the attacks From November 13, 2015 to Paris and Saint-Denis. This tweet then claimed that the two men had for purpose “the Islamization of France”.
Among three targeted authors, only two had been identified and recognized the facts before the investigators. However, they were not present at the hearing on January 18, during which the prosecution requested a six -month suspended sentence against them and a fine of 15,000 euros.
“This conviction confirms to me that (…) No one can be the subject of a treatment as execrable as that of which I have been the subject of individuals who, under the cover of freedom of ‘Expression, believed to be entitled to attack my dignity and my honor by questioning my membership of [France] and the action that I have always undertaken in the service of living together and the country ” , reacted Mr. Kabtane in a press release.
generation identity, political movement of ultra -right based in Lyon and pleading for the “defense” of European identity, had made itself known by the media coverage of spectacular operations against Islam and migrants, before D ‘Be dissolved in March 2021 after an operation intended to prevent the passage of migrants between Haute-Garonne and Spain.