A top far-left Antifa lawmaker in France has been convicted of aggravated assault against a supposed right-wing activist, it was revealed this week.
Raphaël Arnault, a member of the leftist La France Insoumise (France in Revolt/LFI) party and spokesman for the Lyon-based La Jeune Garde Antifasciste (The Young Anti-Fascist Guard), was convicted in 2022 to a four month suspended sentence over a 2021 group attack on who they believed to be a member of a right-wing group.
The victim, identified only as Geoffrey L., was approached by a group of six leftists, who surrounded him, demanding that he unlock his phone. After he refused they attacked him, injuring his arm. Arnault was specifically identified by the victim as one of his assailants.
The longtime street activist appealed the 2022 conviction, however, according to Le Figaro, he dropped the challenge in March, meaning that the conviction for agrravated assault is now definitive. In addition to the four month susppended sentence, the leftist MP was also ordered to pay €1,600 in damages.
During a hearing, Arnault told the court that he and his comrades confronted the victim, explaining that he was “fed up with activists like him attacking minorities because of their sexual orientation or skin colour.”
For these actions, the Lyon Criminal Court sentenced Raphaël Arnault to four months’ imprisonment, suspended, for “aggravated assault resulting in one day of incapacity for work” and €1,600 in damages.
Prior to last year’s legislative elections, reports emerged that Arnault had an “S” file, meaning that he was being surveilled by French intelligence services for potential extremism.
Despite this, the far-left LFI party continued to back his candidacy and he was elected to the National Assembly to represent Vaucluse’s 1st constituency.
Meanwhile, the French government has also announced that it will seek to officially ban Arnault’s Antifa cell in Lyon over its reported use of street violence as a tactic.
Arnault has defended the Young Guard, saying that it is an “indispensable anti-fascist tool in this period, the far-right has understood this well and is trying to destroy us.”
The revelation of the far-left MP’s conviction comes in the wake of the Trump administration in the United States designating multiple Antifa cells in Europe as terrorist groups.