Jean-Paul Delescaut, the boss of the CGT du Nord, sentenced for “apology of terrorism” | EUROtoday

Around fifty complaints targeting different personalities, parties and movements

For the complainant association, supported by a collective of fifty lawyers from all the bars of France, these remarks “clearly constituted the offense of advocating terrorism”, punishable by a maximum of seven years of imprisonment and a fine of 75 000 euros, when they are relayed on the Internet, which was the case in this case.

“Support for the Palestinian people and criticism of the policies pursued by the Israeli Prime Minister are perfectly admissible in a democracy. What is not is to legitimize, by assimilating it to an act of resistance, an action which led to the massacre of more than a thousand civilians, men, women and children, with the aim of reigning terror and committing horrors, reacts Me Reisberg. Unfortunately, as we have seen in this affair, those who claim to be anti-Zionists have great difficulty hiding their support for terrorist movements aimed at the destruction of the State of Israel, as advocated by the Hamas Charter. »

The French Jewish Youth movement, in support of which Mr. Reisberg pleaded, filed around fifty complaints in total, targeting different personalities, parties and movements such as the NPA, the “Palestine will overcome” collective, the Jewish Union for Peace or the Party of Natives of the Republic. Other trials may observe that of Jean-Paul Delescaut.

“Equal consideration” for victims and terrorists

Article 421-2-5 of the Penal Code punishes the act of “directly provoking acts of terrorism or advocating these acts”; the textual content doesn’t exactly outline the apology, however case regulation has clarified its contours. The Court of Cassation thus considers that there’s an apology when an individual demonstrates “equal consideration for the victims and the perpetrators” – of an assault on this case.