AFP Paris

Paris

Updated Friday, March 15, 2024-16:32

  • LOC Aya Nakamura and her partner will be tried for reciprocal marital violence

France has opened an investigation following a report from an association that denounced racist publications against the Franco-Malian artist

Aya Nakamura

, who could sing during the opening ceremony of the

Paris Olympic Games

, the prosecutor's office reported this Friday.

The 28-year-old singer, winner of the

Victoires de la Musique

awards , has become a target of the extreme right and has been the subject of numerous racist attacks since the announcement, at the end of February, by the French weekly

L'Express

of her possible participation in the ceremony on July 26.

There she could perform songs by

Edith Piaf

.

Her performance at the

Olympic Games

has not been officially confirmed at the moment, neither by the singer nor by the organizers of the Games, nor by the French presidency.

The police investigation was opened after the Prosecutor's Office received on March 13 the report from the

Licra

(

International League against Racism and Antisemitism

) that denounced "publications of a racist nature to the detriment of

Aya Nakamura

."

The National Center for the Fight against Hate on the Internet

(

PNLH

) will be in charge of it

, the Prosecutor's Office has reported.

The

SOS Racisme

association has announced in a statement that it will in turn take legal action, denouncing "waves of racist hatred against

Aya Nakamura

" and citing as an example the dissemination last weekend on social networks of a banner from the identitatio collective Les Natifs (the natives), which read: "No way Aya, this is Paris, not the Bamako market."

"The objective of this banner was to affirm that

Aya Nakamura

, although she is a French artist, has no legitimacy to represent France due to her Malian origins, clearly disqualifying in the eyes of the extreme right," denounces

SOS Racism

.

Aya Nakamura

has reacted strongly on social media, and directly accuses her detractors of being "racist."

"I am becoming the number one target of the State, and that hurts," she said, before concluding: "What do I owe you?"

Faced with repeated attacks against the most listened to French-speaking singer in the world since she published

Djadja

, Culture Minister

Rachida Dati

already stepped forward on Tuesday: "Beware of purely racist pretexts to attack someone," she said, adding : "Attacking an artist for what she is is unacceptable, it is a crime."

Aya Nakamura

, one of France's R&B heavyweights, released her fourth album,

DNK

, last year .