Around ten activists gathered on Friday, November 22, at 8 a.m., in front of the Paris judicial court to support Léna Lazare and Basile Dutertre, two emblematic figures of the collective Les Soulèvements de la Terre (LST). The two activists appeared before the 24e correctional room for refusing to appear, in July 2023, to a summons from a parliamentary commission of inquiry which had identified them as the spokespersons of the movement.
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The commission, chaired by the deputy for Bas-Rhin Patrick Hetzel (Les Républicains), was created in May 2023 to study “the structuring, financing, means and methods of action of small groups responsible for violence during demonstrations and gatherings that took place between March 16 and May 3, 2023”both against pension reform and against the mega-basin project in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres).
After the choice of the two activists not to appear, Mr. Hetzel, who has since become Minister of Higher Education and Research, contacted the Paris Public Prosecutor, an unprecedented procedure under the Ve Republic. Considering that the two defendants “had knowledge of their summons” and that they had done the “claimed choice” not to go there, the prosecutor requested, on Friday, against Léna Lazare, the only one present, a sentence of two months' imprisonment with a suspended sentence, a fine of 1,500 euros and deprivation of his civil rights for one year.
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Concerning Basile Dutertre, absent for professional reasons, the public prosecutor requested a four-month suspended prison sentence, a fine of 3,000 euros and a ban on his civil rights for two years.
“Irregular” summons for the defense
“I didn't expect such harsh sentences.declared Léna Lazare at the end of the hearing. I was especially shocked by the deprivation of civil rights, but also by the prison sentence. I find it quite cynical, especially since I had good reasons not to run [devant la commission d’enquête]. » During the hearing, defense lawyers described the summons as“irregular”insofar as, according to them, the commission of inquiry related to ongoing legal proceedings. By going before this commission, they argued, the two activists would not have been able to benefit from their right to silence.
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