As France prepares to commemorate ten years since the January 2015 attacks, the start of a wave of terrorist attacks in the country, the bill of La France insoumise on the apology of terrorism does not pass. The deputy Ugo Bernalice and his colleagues insoumis, who submitted this text on Tuesday November 19, wish to repeal this offense in order to “to put back” in press law, to which it fell before 2014. The law creating a specific offense of advocating terrorism, “in the way it is misused today, is an attack on freedom of expression” and to “the rule of law”pleaded the president of the LFI group to the Assembly, Mathilde Panot, Sunday on BFMTV. Franceinfo summarizes the issues of this proposed law and the reactions it has provoked.
The legislation was strengthened in 2014
Until then repressed within the framework of press law, governed by the law of July 29, 1881, the apology of terrorism had been eradicated by a law of 2014 to become an offense in its own right in the Penal Code, in a context of increased departures of young candidates for jihad from France to Syria.
The objective was then to remove this offense from a legal regime considered too protective, designed above all to preserve freedom of expression. The penalty remained five years in prison, but the maximum fine increased from 45,000 euros to 75,000 euros. And the sanctions were reinforced when the comments in question were made on the internet, up to seven years and a fine of 100,000 euros. “The definition of the offense has not changed, but it has become a common law offense. This has changed the prosecution system”underlines Christophe Bigot, lawyer specializing in press law, to AFP. The limitation period was thus extended, new techniques were authorized during investigations and the accused could be tried by more courts, including in immediate appearance, immediately after their custody.
At the time, the Consultative Commission on Human Rights opposed this latest development, arguing that “certain emergency procedures” were not “not suitable for litigation over abuses of freedom of expression, the complexity of which and the values at stake require firm but measured treatment”. During the debate in the National Assembly, this provision was also contested by several socialist and environmentalist deputies, but also some elected officials from the UMP. The Minister of the Interior at the time, the socialist Bernard Cazeneuve, then defended a law “necessary” facing the “media strategy” jihadist groups. The Constitutional Council ruled in his favor in May 2018.
La France insoumise denounces a deviation in the use of this offense
Today, the rebels point out abuses linked to this change of regime of the apology of terrorism. “Which democracy can still preserve its name when anti-terrorism methods are used to repress political activists, community activists, journalists or even trade unionists?”they ask in the explanatory statement of their proposed law. And to cite, among the examples, the case of Mathilde Panot herself, interviewed in April by the police regarding a press release published by her group on October 7, 2023. The Hamas attack in Israel was described there as “an armed offensive by Palestinian forces” in a “context of intensification of the Israeli occupation policy” of Palestinian territories.
However, this bill did not “nothing to do with our personal interests”assured Mathilde Panot on Sunday. “I find it incredible that it is explained everywhere that we are in the process of repealing the offense of glorifying terrorism. We are in the process of putting it back in the right place. (…) The only interest we have in this question is to advocate the rule of law.”assured the leader of the LFI deputies on BFMTV.
Concretely, the text tabled by LFI deputies on Tuesday, if adopted, would remove of the Penal Code the article which defines as offenses the apology of terrorism, but also the provocation to the commission of terrorist acts. Such comments would still fall under the offense of glorifying a crime, war crime or crime against humanity, within the framework of the law on freedom of the press.
Reactions are strong, on the right and on the left
This initiative sparked an outcry within the political class, including on the left. In a scathing message posted on “only to be clarified to avoid deviations”. “It is imperative to protect public freedoms, but also to protect the French from fanaticism and calls for violence and hatred”he added. “We do not support” the LFI bill, confirmed the next day on franceinfo the leader of the socialist deputies, Boris Vallaud. “In a country like ours, which has been regularly bereaved by terrorism, the criminal repression of provocation and apology is necessary to the fight against terrorism itself.”
In government, the Minister of Justice Didier Migaud, formerly of the PS, said he “extremely shocked” et “resolutely against” this bill. “I don’t understand how we can let our guard down in the face of the threat of terrorism which is very present today”he said Monday on France 2 . “It is despicable, it must be fought with the greatest force. (….) Freedom of expression has never allowed everything, there are limits to this freedom of expression.” Still within the executive, but on the right, the Secretary of State for Citizenship and the Fight against Discrimination, Othman Nasrou, for his part spoke of “absolute shame” on franceinfo.
“This bill is unworthy, it is an insult to all the victims of terrorism.”
Othman Nasrou, Secretary of State to the Minister of the Interioron franceinfo
His supervisory minister, Bruno Retailleau, added his voice to the concert of criticism, evoking a proposal “unspeakable”. “I really call on those who are on the left, (…) those who still have a political conscience, those who care about the Republic, (…) to definitively dissociate themselves from the rebels” declared the Minister of the Interior just after a speech to the annual convention of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif).
Among the Macronists, Gabriel Attal, president of the EPR group in the Assembly, also calls on the rest of the left to “clearly separate” of LFI. “I remember that it was the Republican left which proposed and voted on in 2014 this text which protected the security of the French and therefore preserved their freedom. In the middle of the trial of the assassination of Samuel Paty, the bill of the France insoumise is an insult and an indelible stain on those who wear it.”he wrote in a letter addressed to his socialist, environmentalist and communist counterparts.
Historical lawyer of Charlie HebdoRichard Malka described this project on Monday on franceinfo as“aberration”. If he does not deny that he can exist “abusive or unfounded complaints” in the name of apologizing for terrorism, he believes that “the judges are there to judge” : “If we remove from the Penal Code all the offenses for which sometimes civil parties file unfounded complaints, then there is no longer a Penal Code, we are no longer in a state governed by law”he estimated. “It is an insult to the memory of the victims of all the attacks which have bloodied France. In the face of terrorism, the Republic must remain firm and united”for its part reacted Crif.
Faced with criticism, rebellious leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon defended the initiative and denounced on “a new attack against LFI coming from the extreme right and slavishly taken up by the media-political officialdom”. The bill has, for the moment, not been included on the agenda of the National Assembly, including during the parliamentary slot reserved for the rebellious group on Thursday. LFI will indeed deploy its flagship text there: the proposal to abolish the pension reform.
