Paris (AFP)

The MEP and member of the executive board of RN Nicolas Bay said on Friday that he did not "condemn at all the remarks" of the polemicist Eric Zemmour, by asserting his right to freedom of expression.

"He has the right to tell the truth, he has the right to express an opinion. Freedom of expression is a block: if we defend Charlie, well we must defend Zemmour. Me, I'm Charlie and I am Zemmour, "Bay said on Sud Radio.

The Paris prosecutor's office on Thursday opened an investigation in particular for "provocation to racial hatred" against Eric Zemmour who had estimated Wednesday evening on Cnews, in a debate devoted to the issue of unaccompanied minors after the attack in front of the former premises of Charlie Weekly: "They have nothing to do here, they are thieves, they are murderers, they are rapists, that's all they are, they must be sent away and they must not even come".

"I do not condemn at all the words of Eric Zemmour", responded Nicolas Bay Friday.

These remarks are "obviously not" a call to hatred or racist, he added, ensuring that the polemicist had pleaded for "to apply the principle of precaution" in migratory matter and had "not said" that "all" the migrants were "thieves", "murderers", "rapists".

According to Mr. Bay, Eric Zemmour wanted to demonstrate that "there is an increase in delinquency and criminality linked to this immigration, in particular this illegal immigration and these unaccompanied minors who for the most part are neither minors nor isolated".

"He has the right to say it, we even have the right to disagree with him. I think that when he says that immigration, illegal immigration, migratory anarchy, causes delinquency and crime in France, not only is it true, but it is obvious, "continued Nicolas Bay.

"But I can imagine that others can deny the reality and say that it is wrong."

"But on the other hand, what is unbearable is that when someone says that today we say we will (translate) him before the courts, that is to say, in short: he is telling the truth , it must be executed, "he ruled.

© 2020 AFP