ECHR Upholds Zemmour’s Hate Speech Conviction Over Anti-Muslim Comments

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) dismissed, this Tuesday, December 20, Eric Zemmour’s appeal, thus validating his conviction by the French justice for "incitement to discrimination, hatred" towards the Muslim community, after remarks made on France 5 in 2016. According to the Court, this conviction did not in any way constitute a violation of his freedom of expression. "The Court considers that the interference with the applicant’s exercise of his right to freedom of expression was necessary in a democratic society in order to protect the rights of others," explains the ECHR.

"For thirty years we have been experiencing an invasion, a colonization, which is leading to a conflagration," Éric Zemmour had assured in the C à vous program on France 5, claiming that in "countless French suburbs where many young girls are veiled, it is also Islam, it is also jihad, it is also the struggle to Islamize a territory which is not, which is normally a non-Islamized land, a land of unbelievers. It’s the same thing, it’s the occupation of territory."

These remarks had earned him a conviction in the first instance by the Paris Criminal Court. He had been fined 5,000 euros - the fine reduced to 3,000 euros on appeal in May 2018 but the conviction was upheld - for "incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence against a group of people on the basis of their origin or their belonging to a religion".

The rejection of his appeal to the Court of Cassation prompted Eric Zemmour to seize the ECHR, asking it to recognize that the proceedings brought against him violated his "freedom of expression" guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. But the Court has just ruled against him.