The judges did not believe in chance. On May 16, 2023, the Bordeaux Criminal Court found eight far-right activists guilty of racist violence and sexist insults. They were, for the most part, sentenced, in accordance with the requisitions, to two years in prison, one of which was suspended probation, with in particular the obligation to carry out an internship in the fight against discrimination, and to house arrest under electronic surveillance. for the firm part. Ten defendants – including one pentiti, the only one present at the time of deliberation – get away with six months in prison.
On June 25, 2022, armed, faces masked, dressed in black, the members of the group burst into the Saint-Michel district in Bordeaux, where they provoked pers-by, imitated monkey cries, chanted, arms outstretched and raised, “Nationalist Bordeaux”, a far-right group that has since been dissolved. Videos having made the buzz had allowed their arrest.
The facts are part of a context of repeated acts of discrimination recorded during this period in Bordeaux, ranging from tags drawn on ociation premises to insults uttered during the Pride March, through the degradation of arched pedestrian crossings -in sky. “We have to show them judicially and politically that they have no place”proclaimed Me Arié Alimi, lawyer for a civil party, at the opening of the trial on March 23.
During the hearing, uninhibited or more silent, the defendants repeated that their nocturnal stroll, in a neighborhood deemed hostile to their ideas, was in no way a provocation. They had mainly summed up the evening with “an outing with friends”Or “a pub crawl”. See at “misplaced virility, a challenge launched with alcohol”according to the lawyer for six of them, Me Emile Tribalat, who wanted “to disregard the political-media veil”. “But since we are right-wing activists, we come to add a political thing”had lamented one of the defendants, using the court as a platform.
“Racist remarks sweat”
Their explanations had given rise to an anthology of attempts at justification. Their photo, taken in a conquering attitude in front of the Le Singe Vert bar and posted like a trophy on Telegram? “A souvenir photo devoid of ulterior motives”, swore a defendant. The Nazi salutes that appear on the videos? “For the Nazi salute, I was drunk”admitted one. “It’s a movement that we see in all stadiums”, relativized another. The monkey cries heard by witnesses? “They were cries of Spartans”corrected yet another. “And then I play rugby, these are cries that can be heard on the field. »
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