He subscribes to the trials. The prosecution requested eight months in prison and five years of ineligibility against Dieudonné, for “concealment of property obtained with the aid of fraud”, before the Rennes judicial court. The 57-year-old comedian is accused of having given a show in a village in the Rennes region, without the owners of the venue having knowledge of the identity of the artist during the rental.
The prosecution was initiated by the public prosecutor and the owners did not file a complaint. The reservation, obtained “by fraudulent means” according to the prosecutor, had been made by the president of the Kamdo production company. Presented as Dieudonné’s companion by the president, the young woman was herself prosecuted for fraud but absent from the hearing. The prosecutor requested a 5,000 euro fine against her and a one-year deprivation of eligibility. The decision will be made on January 22.
A “political will”
The Kamdo company, co-producer of the Dieudonné show, had reserved a performance hall for February 25, 2023 for a “theatrical performance” in Piré-Chance, in the south-east of Rennes. Kamdo then neglected to specify that this rental concerned a Dieudonné show, which took place without incident. The owners, however, were faced with a fait accompli by discovering the artist’s name at the last moment.
Throughout the hearing, Dieudonné, calm and courteous, took refuge behind his role as an artist who had no responsibility in the companies ensuring the logistics and organization of his shows. “My job is to be operational on D-day in front of the public. I don’t deal with that (the rental of rooms),” he said, denouncing a “political desire to silence him.”
His lawyer, Me Karim Laoufi, underlined the delicacy of the file, comprising “only a press article and a completely legal rental contract”. Last September, a Dieudonné show planned at the Zénith in Paris was banned by the police prefect due to “risk of serious disturbances to public order” in view of his repeated anti-Semitic remarks.