At the Paris Court of Justice,
The situation pretty much sums up the case judged on Friday by the 24th chamber of the Paris court. Neither the defendant, a young man of 22, nor the complainant, the singer Hoshi, are present at the hearing. The first, Maël H., does not seem to have grasped the seriousness of the facts with which he is accused. Unconcerned about the legal consequences, he is not even represented by a lawyer at his trial. The second, Mathilde Gerner of her real name, said, through the voice of her lawyer, that she did not have “the strength today to come” to confront the one who harassed her on the networks social for weeks. “Since 2020, I have been living in hell”, explains the artist in a letter read to the audience, adding that she “has been suffering and living in fear for three years”.
“We’re going to bleed you big sow”
In February 2020, during the Victoires de la Musique, the singer performed her song love censorship, which denounces homophobia. Then, on the stage, she had kissed one of the dancers. A kiss that had triggered a wave of homophobic insults and death threats on social networks. Hoshi filed a complaint in March 2020 for “moral and sexual harassment in a pack”, “death and rape threats”, “aggravated insults” and “incitement to hatred”. “It’s a file that required a lot of investigation, but in the end, it’s a funnel,” sums up the president. The investigations of the Parisian judicial police have in fact only made it possible to identify six Internet users: five minors and one adult.
Maël H. was arrested at his home, in Brittany, and placed in police custody on June 20, 2022. In front of the investigators, he ended up confessing the facts after having denied them. The young man, who claims to have Asperger’s syndrome, admits having “let off steam” because he “did not feel well” because of his parents’ divorce. He sent several messages on Instagram to the singer: “We’re going to bleed you big sow”, “No matter how much you let me know, I’ll come back the dyke”, “Goudou Hoshi”… As she systematically blocked him, he created new accounts and started writing to him again. He attached to his messages “an image of Hitler with a chocolatine” [sans doute un pain au chocolat], says the president. A reference to the extermination of homosexual people during the Second World War.
“It’s a small signal to all stalkers”
“It’s not harassment or death messages, these are unfriendly messages,” he defends himself to investigators. “I wrote what went through my head, for me, it’s not about threats. In police custody, Maël H. shows a certain casualness. The bleeding? “In the Middle Ages, they were used to treat certain diseases and did not kill,” he replies in particular. The young man also had a “provocative role”, underlines the magistrate, the defendant having called on other members of the 18-25 forum of the jeuxvideo.com site to harass Hoshi on social networks. “He is one of the people who decided to launch the movement”, observes the singer’s lawyer, Me Laura Ben Kemoun. The prosecutor also notices his “relentlessness in inciting others and harassing his victim”. She is asking for a 6-month suspended sentence.
Finally, the court will go further by sentencing Maël H. to eight months in prison, including two months in prison, with provisional execution. That is, the sentence will not be suspended, even if he appeals. It is accompanied by an obligation of care, work and the prohibition to come into contact with Hoshi. He will also have to pay 5,000 euros to the artist for the moral damage suffered. “It’s a small signal to all stalkers,” warns the president.