Prosecuted for asking children to remove their masks near a school and then broadcasting their photo, Denis Agret, a doctor known for his opposition to vaccines against Covid-19, was released on Wednesday by the criminal court of Montpellier (Herault). The facts, in January 2021, took place near a primary school in the city: the defendant admitted having asked four or five children, including that of his companion, to pose without a mask for a photo he took. then published on Facebook, without the explicit consent of the parents.
This 46-year-old general practitioner and emergency doctor appeared before the court as a whistleblower who wanted to “protect children” from the dangers that, according to him, wearing a mask would represent. He tried to bring the debate to the medical level, forcing the judge to call him to order. “You are not being prosecuted for your ideas”, but for “invasion of the privacy” of children and for “endangering others”, for having violated a prefectural decree on the obligation to wear a mask, a underlined the prosecutor. “This is not a political trial, you are being tried for actions,” he added, demanding a 4-month suspended prison sentence and a 600 euro fine.
“We have an independent judiciary”
The doctor said he regretted posting the photo and said he took it down the same day after a “very angry” father called. On the endangerment of others, he maintained that his gesture had “no consequences”. His lawyer, Jean-Charles Teissedre, pleaded for his release on points of law. In particular, he considered that the right to the image was civil and not criminal when the photos were taken outside. Similarly, the prefectural decree only made wearing a mask compulsory for children “aged 11 and over”, while those photographed were 9 and 10 years old.
After a deliberation of barely three minutes, the judge pronounced the release. “We have independent justice”, welcomed the doctor, currently unemployed, after the hearing, believing that this would “give credence to his word”. The defendant will appear in June before the same criminal court for inflammatory statements targeting the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Occitanie, according to his lawyer.