Marine Le Pen was sentenced, Friday, October 13, to a suspended fine of 500 euros for defamation against Cimade, after accusing the migrant aid association of organizing “the illegal immigration network from the Comoros » in Mayotte, Agence France-Presse learned.
The leader of the National Rally had accused humanitarian associations of being “sometimes” “accomplices of smugglers”, during an interview broadcast on BFM-TV in January 2022. To the question “are humanitarian associations complicit? of the offense of entry? », Marine Le Pen, then candidate in the April 2022 presidential election, replied: “Sometimes yes. They are even accomplices of smugglers, yes, sometimes. »
She then directly targeted Cimade, an association committed against xenophobia and the exclusion of immigrants, for its actions in Mayotte. “La Cimade actually organizes the illegal immigration network coming from the Comoros” in Mayotte, she declared.
The “limits of freedom of expression [have] been crossed”
She finally pointed out the subsidies paid to associations, calling for people to stop paying subsidies “to people who organize something that is illegal.”
She was found guilty of public defamation against an individual, the courts considering that the remarks “exceeded the dose of exaggeration possible in the context in which they were uttered” and that “the limits of freedom of expression [have] been crossed.”
She was sentenced to a suspended fine of 500 euros, as well as two thousand euros in court costs and one euro in damages.