Taha Bouhafs can smile, he has just been dismissed.

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SADAKA EDMOND / SIPA

Journalist Taha Bouhafs, suspected of having incited demonstrators to invest in the Bouffes du Nord theater in Paris in January 2020 where Emmanuel Macron was attending a performance, was exonerated by the examining magistrate.

In an order, signed Thursday and of which AFP was informed on Friday, the investigating judge ordered a dismissal in this case, in accordance with the requisitions, on January 21, from the Paris prosecutor's office.

On Friday January 17, 2020, on the 44th day of strike against the pension reform, the Head of State attended with his wife Brigitte Macron a performance at the Parisian theater of Bouffes du Nord de

La Mouche

, by Christian Hecq and Valérie Fate.

Taha Bouhafs, known for his coverage of social conflicts and for his activist commitment, is present in the room.

"Very tense" atmosphere

At 8:58 pm, the journalist tweets a short video and this message: “I am currently at the Bouffes du Nord theater, 3 rows behind the President of the Republic.

Activists are somewhere in the area calling on everyone to come back.

Something is preparing… the evening may be eventful ”.

Around 10 p.m., around thirty demonstrators entered the theater and disrupted the performance before being repulsed by the police.

In a "very tense" atmosphere, according to police reports, Emmanuel Macron is placed in safety in the basement.

According to the order, it is on the "designation" of a member of the Security Group of the Presidency of the Republic that Taha Bouhafs is arrested in the theater after the intrusion, then placed in police custody, phone confiscated. .

The journalist is presented to a judge the next day who does not indict him, as requested by the prosecution at the time, but places him under the status of assisted witness.

The phone operated or not?

During the interrogation, his lawyer Me Arié Alimi indeed presents a tweet from another account, ten minutes earlier than that of his client, already announcing the coming of Emmanuel Macron to the theater and calling for a meeting. on the spot.

Two other comparable tweets have since been discovered by investigators.

“In view of these elements and particularly the publications prior to that of Taha Bouhafs on social networks as well as the content of the tweet published by the latter, there are not sufficient charges against Taha Bouhafs for having committed the offenses concerned, ”said the judge in her order.

The judge explains that "taking into account the quality of journalist of Taha Bouhafs, the data extracted from [his] telephone and placed under seal were not exploited".

But the latter on the contrary denounced Friday to AFP an "exploitation" of his mobile phone and announced a complaint for "violation of the secrecy of sources".

Welcoming now to be "cleared of the false accusations of the presidential palace", he also announced complaints "against the services of the Elysee for the slanderous denunciation which provoked my arrest, my placement in police custody and my deferral. ".

“It is the freedom of the press and of information that is victorious.

The Élysée will, however, have to be accountable, ”added its lawyer, Me Arié Alimi.

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