A pig ear par mail to the Hamza mosque and tags “Singe” in red in several places in the city. Philippe Gaudeau55, with a shaved head, was heard by the Beauvais criminal court on Friday June 21 to answer charges of insults, threats and degradation, clearly targeting the Muslim community.
On May 17, 2024, when the representative of the mosque Hamza, 49 rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques in Beauvais, Voisinlieu districtKamal Dridi, receives a letter with suspicious content given the nauseating odor that emanates from it, he has the reflex to contact the security services Police before opening the envelope. When they opened the fold, they discovered a damaged cut-out pig’s ear. Researches ADN et fingerprints are carried out which make it possible to trace the author, Philippe Gaudeau, who denies any intention of threatening the audience. The postman confirms that he also smelled the pestilential odor of the mail in question.
Previously, the man had already attacked the mosque and several places in the town of Beauvais by spray-painting the word “Singe“. Acts committed on December 25, 2023 when he had been convicted on December 16, 2021 for the same acts. From incitement to hatred to Beauvais station who filed a civil suit, and on advertising posters. He did it again on May 17, 2024 on the bar Le Longchamp located on the same street. Traveling between Beauvais and Alençonthe man is also known in this other city for the same damage.
Racism claimed
This time, it is the video surveillance cameras which made it possible to identify him. That night of December 24 to 25, the man dressed in a down jacket and a black cap is filmed in several places in the city, staggering, starting to carve the letter “S” in red before the cameras roll . The search carried out at his home in the presence of two witnesses made it possible to discover numerous readings of racist, anti-Semitic et denier by Philippe Gaudeau as the journal Rivarolbooks on Hitler and Mussolinisupremacy tracts with highlighted passages on Hitler. But also equally symbolic objects with swastikassymbols recognized historically as those of SS officersa military dagger, knives, a bayonet, a baton… and the famous hat and down jacket identical to those in the videos.
Consultation of extremist sites
The expertise of his laptop reveals consultations of Nazi-related sitesor on the far-right terrorist Anders Bravik. In the background, a leaflet found on the dark web clearly displays these ideas “… to restore the white race“. The computer also contains a file from the Ministry of the Interior website on dangerous productsmore particularly theammoniaand explosive.
Despite everything, Philippe Gaudeau denies any hatred towards the Muslim community. “This is completely inappropriate. I wouldn’t have done this on an empty stomach.” he said on the stand. “Certainly you are staggering greatly, but the modus operandi of the alleged facts are very particular!” comments the president of the court who considers that the elements of the search reveal a deep conviction.
The desire to offend, without hatred…
“Why did you send a cut-off pig’s ear to the mosque? Probably to offend ?” asks the court. The defendant says he does not know on the stand after having consented during his hearing to having done it knowingly. He nevertheless recognizes the intention ofto offend as for the engravings of the word monkey on a place of worship. “It’s not hatred, perhaps anger or fear with the aim of provoking.” declares Philippe Gaudeau who expresses regret to the audience.
Regrets that ring false
But the court is not fooled: “You express regret today because you face 14 years in prison for these same acts as a repeat offender, which doubles your last sentence of 7 years. The psychological expertise is clear on your hatred against the Arabs, and your neighbor. You acknowledge the facts without any empathy. You clearly express being racist, believing in the hierarchy of races.“
Voting as a means of expression
“Do you understand that Mr. Dridi could have felt threatened by discovering the dead body of an animal, moreover a pig? What do you think?” The defendant responds with a long silence, sketching a childish pout caught red-handed. “And the word Monkey?” “It’s nonsense, there are other means like voting” replies Philippe Gaudeau.
Ideological danger
The criminal record includes three convictions between 2021 and 2023, including twice for damage and a traffic offense. The social investigation describes a man isolated socially and familiarly. He perceives the RSA. Boucher training, he works in temporary work, with episodes of major alcohol intoxication. Her dangerousness is not psychiatric more ideological with some clearly extremist and racist views which he maintains, without delusional ideas and without any guilt.
Republican values all flouted
When the prosecutor asks him about the future, after another long silence, the defendant replies “I don’t know. Everything will depend on the verdict if I leave court. I will look for work. I was offered two months at town hall and a temporary job.”
“Republican values: liberty, equality, fraternity, have all been flouted” on December 25 and May 17” indicates the Public Prosecutor’s Office according to which these attacks are incompatible with work in the public service. “The facts are claimed and justified by an ideology. You knew very well what you were doing. Alcohol is not a mitigating circumstance, on the contrary, it is aggravating. The facts of damage are indisputable.”
A dangerous character
“As for sending a body part of a dead animal, it is a threat and violence. Mr. Dridi felt discriminated against and threatened. The desire to hurt and offend is recognized under the cover of a discriminatory ideology, racistabject clearly assumed, with always the same methods.” comments the prosecutor, relying on the report of the psychological expertise and the searches carried out to identify the character “worrying dangerous and certain criminological” of the accused who presents no guarantee of absence of repeat offenses.
In recurrence
In view of the state of recidivism while the planned was still under judicial supervision for the same facts, the prosecutor requires 18 months in prison including 6 months of probationary suspension over 2 years and under committal warrant, i.e. 12 months of closed prison. All accompanied by supervision with obligations for addictological and psychological care, work or training. As well as a ban on appearing at the mosque for 3 years, and on holding armes for 5 years. Given the attacks on republican values and the dangerousness of the characterthe Public Ministry suggests withdrawal of civil and civic rights, with the confiscation of the seals. And to recall that another investigation is being carried out for other computer facts and on the handwritten notebooks of Mr. who will have to repair the damage, pay the sums requested by the civil parties and pay a fine of 1000 euros.
For the defense, the committal warrant is unsuitable for the defense which suggests a probationary suspension of 6 to 8 months so as not to further isolate its client. As for the withdrawal of civil rights: “There is no party in France that corresponds to this extremist ideology so if we deprive him of his right to vote, he will perhaps choose another means of expressing himself.”
The Defense pleads for acquittal for the mail
Without minimizing the regrettable nature of sending the pig’s ear, from a criminal point of view, this offense cannot be described as “materialized threat of crime” according to the defense lawyer, Maître Douilly, who requests a referral on this offense. The lawyer pleads Relax for sending mail qualified as “ non-public incitement to discrimination”: “this is not a call to hatred nor discriminatory“.
“Monkey” graffiti, slight damage
The most symbolic degradation is a slight damage with the term “Monkey” on the mosque, this must be taken into account. As for the term “Monkey” on the wall of the station described by the prosecution as “slight degradation“, this is not the correct article that is mentioned since it is a graffiti.
Likewise, the word Monkey on the bar, it is not a “public good” as mentioned but a “private good”. For the word monkey on the mosque, the defense cites case law “This implies that those who enter are not monkeys but subhumans.” and calls for acquittal on these last two offenses. According to the defense, the court can therefore only rule on the guilt of the accused for “the degradation or deterioration of property intended for public utility or decoration in Beauvais on December 25, 2023″.
“I will put water in my wine”
Before deliberation, Philippe Gaudeau declared: “I will put water in my wine from now on and I will think.”
The court heard the defense by releasing the accused only on the “non-public incitement to discrimination”, but guilty of the surplus. Philippe Gaudeau receives 12 months, including 6 months with suspended probation for a period of 2 years, i.e. 6 months in prison under committal warrant, with obligation to work and addictological and psychological care, ban on appearing at the mosque and ban on carrying of weapon for a period of 5 years.
“Racists are wrong with anger”
The requests from the Civil Parties were received: 293.76 euros by the city of Beauvais for cleaning up the damage, and a symbolic euro for the LICRA (International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism) who declared: “Racists are people who are angry and wrong. You love your country but you attack people who fought for your country.” Absent at the hearing, the representative of the Beauvaisis Muslim Association, Kamal Dridi, delegated people to attend the hearing without becoming a civil party.
