French Far-Right Candidate Zemmour Faces Court Over Anti-Migrant Comments

Prosecuted several times for racial insult, incitement to hatred or denial of crimes against humanity, Eric Zemmour was summoned to appear before the Paris criminal court for his remarks on unaccompanied migrant minors, made on September 29, 2020 in the "Face à l’info" program on the CNews channel.

"They have no business being here, they are thieves, they are murderers, they are rapists, that’s all they are, they have to be sent back and they shouldn’t even come," he had declared during the program devoted to unaccompanied minors, after an attack in front of the former premises of Charlie Hebdo. "It’s a permanent invasion, it’s an immigration policy problem," the far-right polemicist had added.

To read: article 74305

At the November 17 hearing, the prosecution had argued that his "contemptuous, outrageous" remarks express "a violent rejection" and a "detestation" of the immigrant population. "The limits of freedom of expression have been crossed," the prosecution had estimated, requesting against Eric Zemmour the payment of a fine of 10,000 euros, at the rate of 100 euros per day over a period of 100 days. In case of non-payment, this fine sentence can be converted into a prison sentence.

About thirty associations including SOS Racisme, the League of Human Rights (LDH) and the Licra have joined the civil party in this trial.