The graffiti artist Letko, who created the fresco in June 2022 in Avignon, was tried on Thursday for insult and public provocation due to origin or religion.
The prosecution on Thursday requested a fine of 6,000 euros, including 2,000 suspended, against a graffiti artist, author of a street-art fresco painted in Avignon and representing the economist Jacques Attali as a puppeteer who manipulates an Emmanuel Macron disguised as Pinocchio. The graffiti was widely denounced as anti-Semitic, particularly because of the similarities with Nazi imagery.
The street artist, known under the name Letko, painted this mural in June 2022 on an electrical transformer at the northeast entrance to Avignon and which immediately sparked controversy, before being deleted 72 hours later at the initiative of the prefecture and the urban community. Jacques Attali had filed a complaint. Letko was on trial Thursday September 14 for public insult and provocation based on origin or religion. Several NGOs filed civil suits. The Avignon public prosecutor’s office told AFP that it had requested a fine of 6,000 euros, including 2,000 suspended. The judgment was reserved until November 23.
Last April, another fresco by the same artist representing Emmanuel Macron as Adolf Hitlerthe number “49.3” written as a mustache, a reference to the article of the constitution used to p the pension reform in the National embly, had also created controversy before being also quickly erased.