Europe1 .fr with AFP 5:45 p.m., November 29, 2022
Last spring, she refused entry to her establishment in Hendaye to a veiled woman: this 64-year-old restaurateur was sentenced to a fine of 600 euros on Tuesday.
She will also have to pay 1,300 euros for moral damage suffered by the client and her son, and complete a citizenship course.
A restaurateur from Hendaye (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) was fined 600 euros on Tuesday by the Bayonne court for refusing entry to her restaurant to a veiled woman last spring.
Convicted of "discrimination based on religion", this 64-year-old woman, born in Spain but of French nationality, had demanded from a client, accompanied by her son on Mother's Day, that she remove her veil to enter his restaurant.
1,300 euros for non-pecuniary damage
The Bayonne public prosecutor's office, deeming the remarks she had then made "infamous", had requested a fine of 600 euros at the hearing on November 15.
The sexagenarian will also have to pay 1,300 euros for the moral damage suffered by the client and her son, and carry out a citizenship course "with a view to learning the values of the Republic", specified the court.
"So we want to teach my client to be French. When you have a mix between culture and religion, it gives this kind of decision", reacted his lawyer, Jacques Tournaire, who does not rule out appealing.
"I felt very humiliated, she hurt me a lot, now I always have this fear when I go to a restaurant", testified during the trial the repressed client.
"We felt like sub-citizens," his son had agreed at the helm.
Me Jacques Tournaire had pleaded for release for his client, arguing for "acceptance of entry to the restaurant under conditions", namely that the client removes her veil, and not a "pure and simple refusal" which would have was opposed by the restorer.