Paris, France | AFP | Tuesday 04/23/2024 – After Rima Hassan, 7th on the LFI list in the European elections, the leader of the Insoumis deputies Mathilde Panot announced on Tuesday that she was in turn summoned by the police as part of an investigation for “apology of terrorism”. In question, a press release published by the parliamentary group on the day of the Hamas attacks once morest Israel on October 7.
“It is the first time in the entire history of the Fifth Republic that a president of an opposition group in the National Assembly has been summoned for such a serious reason,” assured the elected official in a press release, by denouncing “a serious exploitation of justice aimed at gagging political expressions”.
The leader of La France insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon immediately denounced “an unprecedented event in the history of our democracy”.
“We now know who threatens freedom of conscience and why: protecting a genocide!”, he added, in reference to the situation in Gaza described by the Rebels as a “genocide”.
On October 7, the LFI group published a text which sparked controversy because it particularly compared the attack by the Islamist movement Hamas, described as “an armed offensive by Palestinian forces”, and “the intensification of political of Israeli occupation” in the Palestinian territories.
Privately, many Insoumis elected officials recognized following the fact that the press release had been poorly written, especially as the world began to become aware of the scale of the massacres committed by the Islamist movement.
The writing was attributed to the Paris MP Danièle Obono, which the LFI group had denied.
A few days later, this elected official estimated in an interview that Hamas was “a resistance movement which defines itself as such” and which “resists an occupation”.
Comments following which the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin took legal action for “apology of terrorism”.
“Advocating terrorism consists of presenting or commenting favorably on terrorist acts,” according to a definition from the Ministry of Justice.
A branch of the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA) is also under investigation for this reason. On October 7, the far-left party issued a statement in which it “recalled its support for the Palestinians and the means of struggle that they have chosen to resist.”
“Alright”
“My client will respond to this summons and there can be no doubt as to the legal outcome that will be given as none of her comments can be qualified in this way,” reacted to AFP the lawyer of Mathilde Panot, Me Jade Dousselin, recalling that the summons came from a “public prosecutor” in charge of the investigation.
“The judicial summons are at the initiative of the European Jewish Organization,” assured the coordinator of the movement, Manuel Bompard.
Like several LFI representatives, Mathilde Panot was the subject of a complaint from the European Jewish Organization (EJO) concerning comments made following the October 7 attack.
“Ms. Panot has been summoned, that’s very good,” Me Muriel Ouaknine-Melki, lawyer and president of the OJE, simply told AFP, refusing to comment further.
Senator LR Stéphane Le Rudulier, for his part, recalled on X having taken legal action “ once morest several LFI elected officials”. “Six months later, the work pays off,” he added.
“A whole list of people”
This news comes four days following the candidate for the European elections Rima Hassan, seventh on Manon Aubry’s LFI list, also announced her summons by the judicial police for “apology of terrorism”.
“I believe I have nothing to reproach myself for, having always expressed myself critically both towards Hamas and its terrorist mode of operation but also towards Israel,” she reacted to AFP on Friday.
The Insoumis have made the war in the Middle East and the defense of the Palestinian cause the main focus of their campaign for the European elections on June 9, regularly denouncing a “genocide” in Gaza. Their list is credited with around 8% in the polls, left behind by the socialists.
LFI also deplores the conviction of a CGT official last week, also for advocating terrorism, an offense created in 2015 during the wave of Islamist attacks.
Last week, two conferences by the three-time presidential candidate on the situation in the Middle East were canceled in Lille, first at the university then in a private room.
