The prosecution requested on Monday in Charleville-Mézières (Ardennes) a three-month suspended prison sentence against a pensioner accused of having called Metz basketball player Loïc Akono a “bonobo” during a game last January. The court is due to render its decision on August 24.
Prosecutor Alban Gesbert requested a three-month suspended prison sentence and an additional penalty of banning matches, at least basketball matches, for three years, against this 74-year-old retiree, a subscriber for eighteen years at the basketball club. Charleville-Mezieres.
The defendant admitted having used the term “bonobo” to address the player Loïc Akono at the end of January, during a match of the local team against the Metz club “Canonniers” (National 2, 4th division). The player then decided to leave the field and then file a complaint.
“There was no racist character”
Summoned to court for “public insult due to origin, ethnicity, nation, race or religion” and “incitement to hatred during a sporting event”, the spectator assured the court that for he “there was no racist character” in the words “you made a mistake, bonobo” because he didn’t know the meaning of the word bonobo.
He acknowledged that the word, which he says he researched after the fact, could “be confusing” but claimed not to be racist. His lawyer, David Meunier, pleaded for release.
“Racism is not something unconscious but a criminal act, racism is not an opinion but a crime”, insisted on the contrary the lawyer of Loïc Akono, Xavier Iochum. “I exercise my right to defend myself, but it is also a general fight. It’s not just me who is subjected to racist remarks, whether in everyday life or in sport, ”explained the basketball player after the hearing. “I want people to realize that they can’t come to gyms or anywhere else and insult people for free like that. »