An investigator from the OCLCH -

ALAIN JOCARD / AFP

  • Created in August 2020, a division of the OCLCH (Central Office for the Fight against Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide and War Crimes) is dedicated to the fight against hate crimes.

  • Seven investigators from the gendarmerie are dedicated to the fight against racist, anti-Semitic, anti-religious or homophobic acts.

    The latter have also sharply increased in recent years in France, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

  • General Jean-Philippe Reiland, commander of the OCLCH, explains to

    20 Minutes

     how these investigators work.

Racist, anti-Semitic or LGBT-phobic acts… Since last August, seven investigators from the OCLCH (Central Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity, Genocide and War Crimes) have devoted themselves full time to the fight against hate crimes.

The division created within this office has already handled about ten cases and is working on about fifteen others.

General Jean-Philippe Reiland, commander of the OCLCH, explains to

20 Minutes

how these gendarmes work, who until now were more used to tracking down genocidaires than delinquents hidden behind a computer screen.

Why was this division created in August 2020?

The OCLCH was created in 2013. The creation decree already includes, in its missions, the fight against hate crimes.

But since then, there have been relatively few commitments from the office on these subjects because its main mission remains crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes.

However, we have observed over time the rise of this type of offense.

What in particular attracted the attention of the authorities, in 2019, was a series of desecration of cemeteries in eastern France that had moved a lot.

The director general of the gendarmerie then decided to strengthen the office at the end of 2019 and to create a division dedicated to this problem, composed of seven investigators.

This division mainly deals with racist or homophobic acts… We are still far from genocides…

However, there is a link.

Looking back, the most serious crimes are often preceded or accompanied by hate speech that justified the unjustifiable.

During the Rwandan genocide, for example, the spirits had long been prepared by the speeches broadcast on the radios.

Fortunately, not all hate speech leads to genocide.

But our goal is to put an end to a runaway as soon as possible.

We saw it with the assassination of Samuel Paty: there were first speeches on the Internet which criticized this professor, which encouraged to avenge the prophet, etc.

In what cases is this division entered?

Often, it is an individual or an association that makes a report to Pharos.

This platform does a first analysis, directs the file to a territorial unit and informs us of its existence so that we can provide assistance to the service entered.

Other times, victims file a complaint directly with the prosecution.

The magistrates can seize us if the file meets certain criteria.

The division was involved in 27 cases today, 16 of which are still ongoing.

Anti-LGBT acts have been on the rise in recent years, according to the Home Office.

How do investigators work on these offenses?

Our goal here is to gain skills because the investigators we recruited were not necessarily aware of these issues.

We have relied a lot on associations to help us measure the impact of this type of offense on victims, to obtain more information on the framework in which these offenses can be committed.

We are very attentive to the use made of social networks or dating sites which can facilitate the identification of a particular population.

We try to listen, to anticipate the difficulties that might be encountered.

A lot of offenses are committed on social networks.

Is collaboration with operators like Facebook or Twitter still so complicated?

We are making progress in this area, I am quite optimistic.

Operators are increasingly aware of the need to collaborate with the authorities.

The creation, within the Paris prosecutor's office, of a national center for the fight against online hate will also facilitate contact with operators, since there will be a direct point of contact.

The division also dealt with certain files relating to the field of survivalism.

Is this a phenomenon that worries you?

Intelligence and judicial services have been observing this rise in survivalism for years.

It is not an offense per se.

But there is sometimes an underlying or clearly expressed ideology, which is likely to lead to a certain number of offenses, whether it be on the legislation on weapons, xenophobic or racist remarks ... This obviously calls for our attention.

Miscellaneous

How does France track down war criminals?

By the Web

"No country in the world has yet solved the problem of online hate", believes Cédric O, Secretary of State for Digital

  • Cyber ​​harassment

  • Gendarmerie

  • Racism

  • Society

  • Discrimination

  • Anti-semitism

  • Homophobia