Two former members of Generation Identity, a far-right group dissolved in 2021, were sentenced on Tuesday February 21 in Lyon for hateful tweets targeting the rector of the Lyon mosque Kamel Kabtane. The two defendants, a former spokesperson and an ex-activist for the group, were sentenced by the criminal court to a four-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 5,000 euros to be paid jointly.
They were accused of “public incitement to hatred” after targeting in 2020 Mr. Kabtane, accused of having called for prayers during the confinement. He explained at the time that the only call to prayer launched in Lyon during confinement had been that of March 25, 2020, at the same time as the bells of all the churches in France rang in solidarity with the caregivers. But the identities had continued to target the rector.
Only two of the three perpetrators have been identified
At the time, Génération identitaire had projected visuals on the minaret of the mosque denouncing these calls to Muslim prayer which, according to them, had resonated during confinement. The identitarians had also published on social networks a petition demanding the expulsion of the rector to Algeria and several hateful tweets, including one displaying the photo of Mr. Kabtane next to that of Salah Abdeslam, who participated in the attacks. November 13, 2015 in Paris and Saint-Denis. This tweet then claimed that the two men had the goal of “the Islamization of France”.
Among the three targeted perpetrators, only two could be identified and had admitted the facts to the investigators. However, they were not present at the hearing on January 18, during which the prosecution requested a six-month suspended prison sentence and a 15,000 euro fine against them.
“This conviction confirms to me that (…) no one can be the object of such appalling treatment as that to which I have been subjected by individuals who, under the guise of freedom of expression, believed they had the right to attack my dignity and my honor by questioning my belonging to [France] and the action that I have always undertaken in the service of living together and of the country”, reacted Mr. Kabtane in a press release.
Generation Identity, an ultra-right political movement based in Lyon and advocating for the “defense” of European identity, made itself known through the media coverage of spectacular operations against Islam and migrants, before being dissolved in March 2021 after an operation to prevent the passage of migrants between Haute-Garonne and Spain.