On March 28, 2023, the prefect of Charente-Maritime ordered the gendarmes to go to Joël Gaborit, 39, a self-employed masonry contractor in Gicq, to seize the 17 firearms and ammunition that he was legally holding.
At the origin of this decision: a video broadcast in 2021 via YouTube by the far-right influencer Papacito, whose channel has since been deleted by the operator. We see in this video entitled “Is leftism bulletproof? » Papacito and a friend, Joël Gaborit, shooting a hunting rifle at a puppet bearing the image of La France insoumise.
Joël Gaborit, a former career soldier, decorated several times according to his lawyer, is not by chance in these images. He is himself, under the pseudonym Code Reinho, the host of a YouTube channel with more than 300,000 subscribers called to “prepare for new crusades”, according to the words reported Thursday November 7 by the public rapporteur of the administrative court, seized by the former soldier.
This video was the subject of a first complaint from Jean-Luc Mélenchon, boss of LFI, for provocation to murder, closed without further action, then a second complaint with the constitution of a civil party, still under investigation (read Sudouest .fr from September 13, 2022). The two YouTubers defend themselves against this accusation by asserting that their video was only intended to warn LFI activists and leaders against the dangers that threaten them.
“He was never convicted”
Present on Thursday, November 7 in Poitiers, the ultra-right activist demanded the return of his weapons. Which would not all belong to him. Some, he said, belonged to his ex-wife, a sports shooter, who can no longer participate in competitions since the seizure. It was this same companion who, using his own computer, sought to buy new weapons online, and not him, as the prefectural services accuse him.
At the hearing, Joël Gaborit was defended by Mr.e Mathilde Tchernoukha, a lawyer in Paris, who argued that, according to her, the conditions for seizing legally held weapons were not met: Joël Gaborit “does not represent a serious and immediate danger. He was never convicted. What he is criticized for is his political ideas. »
The public rapporteur is not on the same line: he concluded that the request should be rejected. Decision in fifteen days.
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