The far-right polemicist Eric Zemmour was sentenced this Thursday, January 12 to a fine of 4,000 euros for racist insults, for having qualified in 2018 the first name of the ex-columnist of the Canal+ group Hapsatou Sy of“insult to France”.
The 64-year-old former presidential candidate and president of Reconquête!, absent during the judgment, was also ordered to pay 3,000 euros in damages and 2,000 euros in legal fees.
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His lawyer, Me Olivier Pardo, immediately announced that he was appealing “Faced with this decision which has no legal meaning”.
“An insult to France”
“It is a great satisfaction”on the contrary estimated Me Antoine Vey, lawyer for Hapsatou Sy, “The court ruled in our favor.” Behind Hapsatou Sy’s fight, “there is probably the recognition of a whole section of the French population” he added.
During the hearing, on November 4, the prosecutor had requested 100 day-fines of 200 euros, or 20,000 euros, which could turn into imprisonment in the event of non-payment.
The comments in question were made during the public recording of Thierry Ardisson’s program “Les Terriens du dimanche” in September 2018 on C8. The production company had cut the excerpt during editing. The columnist had broadcast on social networks a video filmed by a make-up artist containing this cut passage and filed a complaint with a civil action.
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The sequence as broadcast on C8 goes as follows: Hapsatou Sy reminds Eric Zemmour of his first name, who replies: “Your mother was wrong. » “And what would you like my name to be?” »bounces the columnist. “Corinne”replies the guest.
In a following face-to-face, cut during the editing, the columnist declares: “What you have just said is an insult to France. » “Mademoiselle, your first name is an insult to France”says in return Eric Zemmour.
“A strictly personal attack”
The court noted that the comments were “outrageous” to Hapsatou Sy “as soon as they signify that his first name, an element of his personality […] would be the expression of a mark of disrespect, of contempt towards France and would undermine its dignity..
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“Even if they present a link with the initial debate […] are clearly detached from the latter from the moment they degenerate into a strictly personal attack, of a discriminatory nature.depending on the jurisdiction.
Eric Zemmour had been definitively sentenced to a fine of 3,000 euros for provoking religious hatred in 2016. He is the target of numerous procedures. In 2023, he must be warned in eight trials in Paris after complaints against comments he made.
