He disseminated Nazi, anti-Semitic and racist propaganda that called for targeted killings. Dominique D., a municipal gardener in Montauban and a supporter of the ultra-right, was found guilty of advocating terrorism and online incitement to violent action in 2020 and 2021. After four hours of deliberation, the chamber specializing in terrorism cases of the Paris Criminal Court imposed on this 47-year-old man five years’ imprisonment, including two years with a probationary reprieve, including an obligation of care.
The defendant was also sentenced for illegal acquisition and possession of weapons and explosives, but unrelated to a terrorist enterprise, for which he had been sent to court. He was given a ban on possession of a weapon for fifteen years and a permanent ban on exercising any public function.
A second defendant, Didier B., a former heavy goods vehicle driver with the RSA (active solidarity income), aged 61 and residing in Gironde, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, including two years suspended on probation, for having acquired and illegally possessed weapons, as well as for having sold them to Dominique D.
Pantheon of portraits of far-right killers
Monitored by the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) for his exchanges on Telegram, Dominique D. had been arrested in November 2021 and placed in pre-trial detention. The investigation, opened in particular for “terrorist association of criminals”, however did not make it possible to establish that he was fomenting a passage to the violent act.
During the hearing, Dominique D. admitted having been the administrator of several public Telegram channels on which he broadcast his hateful remarks. In addition to video montages of executions, he shared a pantheon of portraits of far-right killers, including the Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik.
The prosecutor had requested six years of imprisonment against Dominique D, and five years with a warrant of deposit against Didier B. According to the magistrate, the first went “further than the apology of terrorism” since he produced and distributed a 19-page manual which is a “practical guide for those who adhere to the ideology of the ultra-right and want to take action”.
48 weapons and thousands of ammunition
For her, it was also “impossible” not to recognize the defendant’s adherence to the “polymorphic” ultra-right ideology, bringing together neo-Nazi theses, white supremacism, accelerationism and survivalism. She also spoke of a “real arsenal” discovered at the municipal employee’s and which “could have been the source of deaths”: 48 weapons and thousands of ammunition.
“I deeply regret my actions” which could “push people to commit the irreparable”, declared Dominique D. According to his adviser, Me Séverine Lheureux, “the viewing of ultraviolence” had for him “become a drug (… ) and he locked himself in there”.