Demonstrations have taken place across the world to protest anti-Asian racism exacerbated by the Covid-19 epidemic. – STRF / STAR MAX / IPx / AP / SIPA
- Four students were sentenced on Wednesday by the 17th chamber of the Paris Criminal Court in an online hate case targeting the Asian community. They were prosecuted for “public insult” against a group on “grounds of origin or ethnicity” or for “public provocation to commit an offense”.
- They will have to complete a citizenship course lasting two days and pay damages to the civil parties. A fifth accused was acquitted.
- For the Association of Young Chinese of France, at the origin of the reports, these sentences constitute a “victory” against online impunity.
In the judicial court in Paris,
All had expressed “their regret” at the bar during their trial last March. An exercise of contrition which did not convince the magistrates of the 17th chamber of the judicial tribunal of Paris. Among the five students fired for “racist insult” or “public provocation to commit an offense” after a hate campaign launched on Twitter against the Asian community, four were found guilty and only one was released.
Pleading “humor” or “anger” caused on October 28 by the announcement of a second confinement to slow down the second wave of coronavirus, they had recognized at the hearing “thoughtless acts” reinforced by the illusion a feeling of “impunity” on social networks. A feeling which results, for four of them, in a conviction to carry out a two-day citizenship internship and to pay damages to the seven civil party associations in this case.
A “strong message” sent to Internet users
Absent this Wednesday during the reading of the judgment, the four convicted students will have to pay 250 euros to the Association of Young Chinese of France (AJCF), at the origin of the first reports last October. The convicted will also have to pay 250 euros in legal fees to the seven civil party associations, for a total of 1,750 euros each. A decision hailed by Me Soc Lam, the lawyer for the AJCF: “We must also see the bright side of things. These are significant sums for students. Typing in the wallet can deter others who are tempted to engage in the same behavior online. “
For the young president of the association, Laëtitia Chhiv, “the essential has been done”. “The fact that the investigation was opened so quickly, that the prosecution and the police were very responsive, for us, it was already a victory in itself,” she explained to 20 minutes. It took the authorities less than six months to identify and refer the five Internet users to court. At the time of their conviction, the AJCF said it was “satisfied” and believes that this decision “sends a strong message to all of society and Internet users”. “By condemning them, it reminds all people active on social networks that this hatred, these calls for violence are crimes and remain unacceptable even if they are manifested online,” continues Laetitia Chhiv.
In a press release published on Wednesday afternoon, the SOS Racisme association, also a civil party to the trial, was more nuanced, deploring that “the authors of the most virulent tweets were not condemned more heavily”.
The limits of freedom of expression
Targeted by an outbreak of xenophobia and racism since the start of the health crisis, the Asian community was the subject, on October 28, of a particularly virulent hate campaign on social networks. Alexis D., an apprenticeship student in an engineering school, was one of the first Internet users to react by writing on his account: “I don’t give a fuck, I hate China, they have to be wiped off the map these motherfuckers, all the viruses come from this shitty country. “
In their decision rendered this Thursday, the magistrates estimated that “these remarks, which are limited to an invective multiplying the crude terms, exceed the admissible limits of freedom of expression”. Like him, Arnaud K., who had published “Fuck the mother to all Chinese”, was found guilty of “public insult to a group of people because of their origin”.
The two other students, Imad R. and Ziad B., were sentenced for “public provocation, not followed up, to commit an offense of willful attack on the integrity of the person” on account of the origin. For Eric Morain, lawyer for the Respect-Zone association, civil party in the trial, this decision is a “great satisfaction”: “It is an additional judicial stone in the fight against online hatred”, he said. reacted to the outcome of this judgment. Next week, a new “stone” could be added to this building during another emblematic trial: that of the cyber-stalkers of young Mila.