Can the escape game that allows Macron to "kill" be continued?

Emmanuel Macron in Paris, October 6, 2020 (illustration) -

• “Find the president.

  Its fate is in your hands.

  You can free him.

  But you can also decide to bring him to justice, shorten his suffering or leave him behind.

  "

• This scenario, proposed in a Toulouse escape game, is controversial on social networks, some Internet users calling for a complaint against his manager for incitement to violence.

• Can prosecution really be considered in this case?

  20 Minutes

  takes stock with two lawyers. 

What would you do if, after kidnapping Emmanuel Macron, you had the choice between "freeing him", "bringing him to justice", "leaving him behind" or "shortening his suffering"?

If everyone is free to decide in their soul and conscience, what is certain, however, is that this multiple choice scenario proposed by a Toulouse escape game has caused a lively controversy in recent days.

Many Internet users have not failed to be indignant against this game "proposing to" kill Macron "" according to the presentation that has been made in several media.

And although the manager of the escape game in question, Arkanes: Live Escape, defended herself, with our colleagues from

, from any "incitement to crime", arguing the "humorous framework" of this scenario and of her "freedom of expression", some, online, are calling for a complaint against her.

But is this legally possible?

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For Pascal Nakache, lawyer at the Toulouse bar, such a scenario is theoretically possible, but not necessarily probable: "It is not impossible that the manager is sued, there is always a risk, but it must be assessed in moderation. .

If the prosecution decided to prosecute her, on what grounds would he do so?

Probably under that of insulting a person holding public authority or that of incitement to violence ”.

Two reasons also mentioned by Juliette Chapelle, a criminal lawyer at the Paris bar, who is however more circumspect: “The criminal law is interpreted strictly and this situation does not necessarily correspond to the criteria for an offense.

We can also consider that it is perceived as provocation to the commission of a crime or an offense but it requires that there be an attempt or an accomplishment of the act.

In this case, a person would have to participate in the escape game and then attempt to assassinate Emmanuel Macron.

"

“The escape game scenario could have been considered as an offense of insulting the Head of State, but it was abolished in [August] 2013, following a decision by the European Court of human rights (CEDH), ”adds Juliette Chapelle.

"Freedom of expression", admissible or not?

A few months earlier, the ECHR had in fact considered that France had violated freedom of expression by condemning for insulting the Head of State a demonstrator who had brandished a sign "Casse-toi pov'con" during a visit of Nicolas Sarkozy in Mayenne.

“This case-law of the ECHR considered that freedom of expression should be understood in a very broad way, and, in my opinion, in the case of the escape game, we are also in the field of freedom of expression.

This scenario is above all humorous, caustic, it is not a call to violence, it is rather a joke and the fact that it is an escape game confirms its playful aim ”, estimates Pascal Nakache.

"I am not sure that freedom of expression is an admissible argument in the event of a complaint from the Head of State or the prosecution", qualifies for her part Juliette Chapelle, while stressing: "The simulacrum of beheading of Macron by of "yellow vests" in Angouleme resulted in a dismissal.

And the two men who hung a mannequin of Emmanuel Macron during a demonstration were sentenced to a citizenship course, so we are not on strong criminal convictions.

"

In the eyes of the lawyer, the main risk incurred by the manager would be of another nature: “We could rather consider an administrative closure of the escape game for disturbing public order.

Ironically, the establishment has just closed its doors for a fortnight ... because of the restrictive measures that came into force in Toulouse to fight against the coronavirus.

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• Toulouse

• Escape Game

• Penal reform

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• Emmanuel Macron

• Society