Versailles (AFP)

The Versailles public prosecutor's office on Monday demanded a 12,000 euros fine against the far-right polemicist Jean Messiha, prosecuted for public insult by the prefect of Yvelines Jean-Jacques Brot, whom he had qualified in a tweet in particular "friend" of "Islamists".

In February 2021, in the midst of a controversy surrounding the words of a professor of philosophy from Trappes, Didier Lemaire, who considered that the city of Yvelines had "fallen into the hands of the Islamists", Jean Messiha attacked the prefect of Yvelines, who had criticized Mr. Lemaire's proposals.

"In the Yvelines, the Islamists have a friend. The prefect Brot who is not happy that Didier Lemaire reveals the reality of the Islamic occupation of the city of Trappes. The collaboration of the prefects, a sad return of the darkest hours ", he wrote on the social network.

At the bar Monday, the columnist of CNews explained "to assume" his tweet, which was, in his eyes, a "somewhat bold and outrageous response" to the prefect but not an insult.

However, he apologized to the person, the highest representative of the State in the department, absent at the hearing.

According to Mr. Messiha, Jean-Jacques Brot "left his duty of reserve" and ventured into the field of politics when he explained, in the press and via a press release, that Didier Lemaire "was throwing oil on the fire "by making" counterproductive "remarks.

Regarding his tweet, Jean Messiha certified that the "darkest hours" he mentions were "not exclusively a reference to World War II".

Not convincing for the prosecutor, who blasted "words that are not about debate" from a man who is "on TV sets or in comfortable lounges" and not "in premiere line ", in the field.

Mr. Messiha, he said, speaks "without knowing the reality of the facts".

The defendant, a former RN executive, "is part of this cohort of people who spit on institutions in general and their representatives in particular", he argued in his indictment, "those who insult, insult and threaten people custodians of public authority ".

The prosecution therefore requested a fine of 12,000 euros, the maximum penalty.

The prefect asks him for 3,000 euros in damages that he promises to donate to charities.

The deliberation will be delivered on October 18.

© 2021 AFP