Gap (AFP)
The Gap Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced to three months imprisonment three leaders of Identity Generation, after anti-migrant actions carried out in the Alps by this far-right association in the spring of 2018.
The association is sentenced to a maximum fine of 75,000 euros.
In its reasoning, which AFP was able to consult, the court considers that "given the extremely serious nature of the facts, the importance of the disturbance to public order occasioned not only during their period of commission but of sustainable way in the department, the importance of the values protected by the offenses charged and the criminal history of the defendants ", prison is required.
The three defendants were prosecuted for "activities exercised under conditions that created confusion in the minds of the public with the exercise of a public office".
Against Clement Gandelin (known as Galant), 24 years old, president of Génération Identitaire, his spokesperson Romain Espino, 26, and an active organizer of the movement, Damien Lefèvre (dit Rieu), 29, the court also pronounced 2.000 euros fines, as well as the deprivation of their civil, civil and family rights for five years.
On April 21, 2018, Génération Identitaire had mounted a vast operation at the Col de l'Échelle, a crossing point for many migrants in the Hautes-Alpes.
A hundred people dressed in the same blue jacket were mobilized, with two helicopters, a giant banner, and a "symbolic border" materialized in the snow by plastic screens. In the following weeks, right-wing activists announced interceptions of migrants and smuggling investigations.
Mr. Pierre-Vincent Lambert, counsel for the defendants, has already announced that his clients would appeal the decision.
© 2019 AFP