Paris (AFP)

Eric Zemmour, released Wednesday by the Paris Court of Appeal after prosecution for insult and incitement to hatred, is no longer only a polemicist but "an actor in the national political debate" according to the CSA, which asks the audiovisual media to from now on counting his speaking engagements.

"In view of recent developments", Eric Zemmour can "be regarded from now on, both by his positions and his actions, as by the comments to which they give rise, as an actor in the national political debate", estimated the Superior Council of audiovisual (CSA) in a press release Wednesday evening.

This request must be applied by the media on Thursday, says the audiovisual regulator, while a candidacy of Eric Zemmour in the presidential election is regularly mentioned.

The polemicist announced to cease his weekly column in Le Figaro, the time, he had said, to promote his book to be published on September 16 entitled "France has not said its last word".

Earlier Wednesday, the Paris Court of Appeal released the polemicist who was being prosecuted for insult and incitement to hatred after a violent diatribe against Islam and immigration, pronounced in 2019 at a political meeting.

At first instance, the 63-year-old columnist was sentenced for these comments to a fine of 10,000 euros.

During a "right-wing convention" organized by relatives of the former member of the National Front (now RN) Marion Maréchal on September 28, 2019, Eric Zemmour gave a speech criticizing immigrants "colonizers" and an "Islamization from the street".

Poster plastered in a street in Paris on June 29, 2021 to support Eric Zemmour's candidacy for the presidential election Ludovic MARIN AFP

The journalist also described the veil and the djellaba as "the uniforms of an occupying army".

In the reasons for its judgment, which AFP has read, the court of appeal ruled that "none of the statements pursued target all Africans, immigrants or Muslims but only fractions of these groups".

- Series of lawsuits -

"There is no justification for remarks targeting a group of people as a whole because of their origin or their belonging or not belonging to an ethnic group, a nation, a race or a specific religion", adds the court , "from which it follows that the prosecuted offenses are not constituted".

"It's a huge victory," Eric Zemmour's lawyer, Olivier Pardo, told AFP, accusing the prosecution of having "distorted" the words of his client.

The anti-racist associations, which had formed civil parties, say they are "flabbergasted".

"It's a big disappointment," responded to AFP one of the lawyers of the House of Friends, Me Ambre Benitez.

"It is a catastrophic decision for the public debate, it allows all racist excesses", added Me Jérôme Karsenti.

The association will appeal to cassation.

At first instance, the Paris Criminal Court ruled in September 2020 that these comments constituted "an exhortation, sometimes implicit and sometimes explicit, to discrimination and hatred towards the Muslim community and its religion".

"Opinions, even shocking ones, must be able to be expressed, nevertheless the alleged facts go further and go beyond the limits of freedom of expression since they are abusive remarks towards a community and its religion", added the president of the 17th correctional chamber.

Eric Zemmour's speech had at the time been widely denounced in the political class and provoked a bitter debate in the media for which he worked.

Despite this controversy, the columnist has since been hired by CNews, where he still appears on a daily show.

His comments boosted the news channel's audience but also earned him a series of lawsuits.

Contacted by AFP, the channel did not wish to comment on the decision of the CSA.

Eric Zemmour was also summoned to court on Wednesday for implicating minor migrants, whom he described as "thieves" and "murderers" on CNews in September 2020.

This trial was ultimately postponed until November 17.

ld-pa-cgu-ac / fmp / vk

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