Conservative writer and potential French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour could face trial for inciting hatred during the middle of next year’s election.
Mr Zemmour, who has been convicted of hate speech on three different occasions in 2011, 2018, and 2020, is due in court this week over charges of “incitement to racial hatred” and “racial insult”. French media predicts that the trial could be postponed, possibly until next year’s election.
Zemmour, a columnist and frequent television guest, is facing charges over remarks he made on television related to an editorial he wrote regarding unaccompanied minor migrants following an incident involving a 25-year-old Pakistani man who attempted to attack several people at the former offices of Charlie Hebdo after the satirical magazine had republished the Mohammed cartoons last year.
“This Pakistani is the archetype of what is called ‘unaccompanied minor’,” Zemmour wrote and claimed that unaccompanied minors “persecute the French”, French magazine Marianne reports.
The comments in question sparking the legal charges were remarks he made on September 29th, 2020, on CNews where he said of migrant minors: “They have no business here. They are thieves. They are murderers. They are rapists. That’s all they are. We must send them back. They shouldn’t even be coming here. ”
According to the magazine, the likelihood of the trial being postponed is due to a huge influx of civil parties which have joined in on the case — 38 in total — mostly so-called anti-racism organisations, all of which are demanding compensation.
Investigation Launched into French Philosopher over Islam Speech https://t.co/I12UHn61wz
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 3, 2019
Due to the surge of civil parties, the magazine states that a source believes the trial will be postponed as the court will be likely unable to resolve the claims within the single day allotted.
“We have never had so many civil parties. It’s considerable,” lawyer Olivier Pardo said and noted the issue could be related to Zemmour’s popularity in the polls for the upcoming 2022 presidential election.
When asked about the issue of racial discrimination, Pardo stated: “But what is the race of unaccompanied minors? Honestly, I do not think there is one.”
Sabrina Goldman, a lawyer for the International League Against Racism and Antisemitism (LICRA), said of the case: “He presents unaccompanied minors as a whole as thieves, rapists, murderers. What is the reaction expected by Zemmour by expressing these words? To cultivate hatred and clearly incite violence.”
Zemmour has been the target of so-called “anti-hate” and far-left groups in the past, with the group SOS Racisme attempting to target advertisers of the newspaper Le Figaro in 2019 for printing columns by Zemmour following a controversial speech on mass migration.
In his speech, made in October of 2019 at a right-wing conference, Zemmour stated: “In France, as in all Europe, all our problems are aggravated by immigration — schools, housing, unemployment, social deficits, public order, prisons — but all our problems are also aggravated by Islam. It’s double punishment.”
Polling released last week by Ipsos-Sopra Steria suggested that if he ran for president, Zemmour could secure as much as 8.5 per cent of the vote.
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