"The Court considers that the interference with the exercise by the applicant of his right to freedom of expression was necessary in a democratic society in order to protect the rights of others", explains the ECHR.

The latter considers that the French courts have therefore not violated the freedom of expression of Eric Zemmour, who entered politics in 2021 before being a candidate in the last presidential election under the colors of his party. extreme right Reconquest.

The former journalist had made the offending remarks on September 16, 2016, in the program "C à vous" broadcast live at 7:00 p.m. on France 5 as part of the promotion of his book entitled "Un quinquennat pour rien".

In particular, he presented Muslims living in France as "colonizers" and "invaders" struggling to "Islamize" French territory.

He felt that Muslims should be given "the choice between Islam and France" and that France had been living "for 30 years under an invasion", stating that "in countless French suburbs where many young girls are veiled “A “struggle to Islamize a territory”, “a jihad” was being played out.

"Context of terrorist attacks"

For these remarks made "during a television program broadcast live at prime time and (...) therefore likely to reach a large audience", as the ECHR notes, he had been convicted at first instance by the Paris Criminal Court to a fine of 5,000 euros for "incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence against a group of people because of their origin or their affiliation to a religion".

The sentence was reduced to 3,000 euros on appeal and the Court of Cassation then dismissed his appeal.

The ECHR, the judicial arm of the Council of Europe, "considers that these remarks were not limited to a criticism of Islam but contained, given the context of terrorist attacks in which they took place, a discriminatory intention to nature to call listeners to the rejection and exclusion of the Muslim community".

The pan-European body also reiterates "that it is of the utmost importance to fight against racial discrimination in all its forms and manifestations".

"Given the State's margin of appreciation in the present case and the applicant's order to pay a fine of 3,000 euros, which is not excessive, the Court is convinced that the contentious interference (in the right to freedom of expression of Eric Zemmour, editor's note) was proportionate to the aim pursued", therefore considered the court based in Strasbourg.

Several proceedings in progress

Eric Zemmour's appeal to the ECHR could seem paradoxical when the polemicist has castigated in the past "those judges who trample on democracy", targeting the ECHR among other things.

"In the name of the rule of law, the judges, whom the media call the wise men, that is to say the European Court of Human Rights, the European Court of Justice and the Constitutional Council, impose their ideology to political power", he pointed out in October 2018 in an interview with Point.

Éric Zemmour had already been sentenced in 2011 for incitement to hatred, after declaring on television that "most traffickers are black and Arab, that's how it is, it's a fact".

Several procedures against him are also still in progress, in particular for comments on "colonizing" immigrants, on Marshal Pétain and the Jews, or on the first name of the former columnist of the Canal + group Hapsatou Sy, described as " insult to France".

© 2022 AFP