France facing the denial of justice

Ln April 23, the police arrested an RATP agent in Gennevilliers, in Hauts-de-Seine. She arrived in time to save a young Jewish woman who claims to have been kidnapped, raped and threatened with death by the person concerned to “avenge Palestine”. The investigation is ongoing.

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Significant coincidence of dates: on April 11, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for dysfunction of justice in a similar case. In this other case, the entire judicial chain, from the court of first instance to the Court of Cassation, via the Paris Court of Appeal, had concealed the anti-Semitic motive – however obvious – of the violence and death threats. against a woman of the Jewish faith.

“Long live the Shoah!” »

The facts were as follows: an individual B. – who, unlike his victim, benefits from anonymity, even though he is extremely dangerous – had been rejected by a woman to whom he was making advances. This frustration then released his hatred of the Jews. Among the extremely violent – and, for some, particularly gloomy – remarks that he had made, we can cite: “If I meet you in the street, I will break your nose in a Jewish hall”, or even “I Hate you and your dirty race! Long live the camps! Long live the Shoah! Long live Nazi Germany! Heil Hitler ! “. His last message was accompanied by a photo of Hitler.

Seized by the young woman, the prosecutor stubbornly refused to recognize the anti-Semitic motive, which is an aggravating circumstance according to the penal code. The judges, without exception, followed suit in the rest of the procedure. Despite contrary conclusions from its attorney general, the Court of Cassation limited itself, on June 26, 2017, to confirming B.’s conviction for death threats and violence. Nothing more.

It was not for the victim’s fault that she invoked the fact that this violence had had “serious consequences on her personal and professional life by profoundly undermining her dignity as a woman and as a Jew.” She had to move and change her place of work. Not only did the perpetrator receive only a light sentence, but, in the absence of aggravating circumstances, his victim only obtained derisory compensation.

The European Court condemned this denial of justice, finding that France had failed to fulfill its obligations arising from Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the freedom to lead a normal private and family life, as well as Article 14 on ensuring criminal protection against discriminatory acts.

Explosion of anti-Semitic attacks

One of the lessons of this lamentable affair is that the propensity of justice – and of the media – to obscure the religious motive of certain acts has no effect on calming the tensions inhabiting this segmented society that France has become. The number of anti-Semitic attacks is exploding because immunity benefits their perpetrators.

The situation is all the more worrying as the trend towards an increase in anti-religious acts is evidenced by statistics from the Ministry of the Interior. For the vast majority of them, these are anti-Semitic and anti-Christian acts. In 2023, 1,762 anti-Semitic acts, 564 anti-Christian acts and 131 anti-Muslim acts were recorded (tags, threats and insults, advocating terrorism, attacks on places of worship and community centers, assault and battery). However, these figures only cover acts which have been the subject of a report to the courts. And they must obviously be reported to the populations concerned to measure the pressure that religious intolerance exerts on everyone in France, according to their confessional ties.

It is therefore urgent to organize continuing education courses at the National School of the Judiciary, as well as in law schools and faculties, to raise awareness about taking into account the religious dimension, particularly anti-Semitic, in the current circumstances. , characterizing certain crimes and offenses. A report should, moreover, be established by the Ministry of Justice on the application of the criminal policy circular from the Keeper of the Seals of October 10, 2023, “relating to the fight against offenses likely to be committed in connection with the terrorist attacks suffered by Israel since October 7, 2023″, calling for the strict application of article 132-76 of the penal code which increases the penalty of imprisonment in the event of religious motive: “In the cases provided for by law, the penalties incurred for a crime or misdemeanor are aggravated when the offense is committed because of the victim’s true or supposed membership or non-membership of a specific ethnic group, nation, race or religion. »

Not everything would be resolved, of course. But, at least, the public authorities would demonstrate their complete determination to fight against this deadly poison which is religious hatred in general and anti-Semitism in particular. This poison has damaged France too much throughout its history for us to let it spread today without reacting with the necessary firmness and lucidity.

*Tribune of the “Cercle Droit et Débat public” chaired by Noëlle Lenoir (lawyer, former minister and honorary member of the Constitutional Council), including, in particular, the following members: