the Algerian influencer leaves the court free, but finds himself in a detention center

The affair of theAlgerian influencer arrested in Montpellier Sunday January 5, 2024, the day after the broadcast of a video on Tik Tok inciting racial hatred and calling for acts of torture has just had legal proceedings, revealed this Tuesday, January 7, the Montpellier prosecutor's office.

The public prosecutor recalls the facts: Saturday January 4, 2025, the Montpellier public prosecutor's office was the recipient, under thearticle 40 of the code of criminal procedureof two reports, “emanating, one from the prefect of Hérault and the other from the mayor of Montpellier, evoking the diffusion on the social network “Tik Tok” of a video made by a Montpellier resident inciting racial hatred and calling for acts of torture.

Pharos Platform

According to our information, these videos were also the subject of reports on the government platform Pharos. The prosecutor adds that, “an investigation was immediately entrusted to the local Judicial Police Service -Slpj- of Montpellier on the charge of public and direct provocation without effect to commit a crime or misdemeanor. The investigations made it possible to identify an Algerian national aged 59 years old legally on French soil. The latter, unfavorably known for various offenses committed until 2010, had a Tik Tok account followed by 168,000 people. He had published several dozen videos which had collected around a million “likes”. He also had a YouTube channel,” confirms the public prosecutor.

The Algerian influencer who had various drop-off points, notably in the Avenue du Père Soulas area, in the Cévennes and in the city center, was finally located, then arrested this Sunday at 4:30 p.m. in the Écusson and placed in custody. police custody, with the assistance of expert interpreters at the Montpellier Court of Appeal to translate messages on computers and telephones. It appeared that the terms translated into French on the video did not reflect the comments made in Arabic by the person concerned.

“Translations by two interpreters established that the words “kill him” were not uttered in the reported video and that it did not contain a call to kill a person named “Cohen.” The accused, on the other hand, called for a severe correction, in particular to hit a man appearing to reside in Algeria. The person concerned admitted the materiality of the facts by indicating that he was under the influence of a drug substitution treatment,” further specifies the Montpellier public prosecutor's office.

Trial on February 24

The Montpellier influencer was presented to the public prosecutor's office this Tuesday as part of a deferred appearance procedure pending the conclusions of a psychiatric expertise, which will be carried out very soon. He will be judged on February 24, 2025 at 2 p.m., at the criminal court.

However, when he had just been released by the judge of freedoms and detention -JLD- and subject to strict judicial control until the trial, the prefect of Hérault immediately took an administrative detention order, as he had announced this weekend, leading to the arrest of the fifty-year-old by the Border police -Paf 34- and his transfer to the administrative detention center -CRA- in Nîmes.

Expulsion

“In view of the facts which target this influencer, the prefect of Hérault withdrew the validity of his residence permit for a period of ten years and with a view to a removal measure took a detention measure in CRA with immediate effect”, confirms this Tuesday evening at Metropolitan the prefect's office. Clearly, the fifty-year-old will be deported soon, probably before the trial set for February 24.

On his account

Another investigation is underway at the Montpellier central police station after the report via article 40 of the code of criminal procedure, this Monday January 6, 2025 in the evening by the mayor of Montpellier, Michael Delafosse of a call to negationists and hatred of Jews by an influencer, also on Tik Tok, in this case a professor from Montpellier. This is the fourth similar procedure in the territory, including two in Hérault triggered after those of Brest (Finistère) and Échirolles (Isère) in the space of a few days, the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau insisting on the firmness of the security services and law enforcement towards these influencers who are rampant on social networks.

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