“Clandestine immigration”: Marine Le Pen convicted of defamation

2023-10-13 17:06:41

Marine Le Pen was sentenced on Friday to a suspended fine of 500 euros for defamation against Cimade, after having accused the migrant aid association of organizing “the illegal immigration network from the Comoros” in Mayotte. The leader of the National Rally had accused humanitarian associations of being “sometimes” “accomplices of smugglers”, during an interview broadcast on BFMTV in January 2022.

To the question “are humanitarian associations complicit in the crime of entry?” », Marine Le Pen, then candidate in the April 2022 presidential election, replied: “Sometimes yes. They are even accomplices of smugglers, yes, sometimes. » She then directly targeted Cimade, an association committed against xenophobia and the exclusion of immigrants, for its actions in Mayotte. “Cimade actually organizes the illegal immigration network coming from the Comoros” in Mayotte, she declared.

“The limits of freedom of expression have been crossed”

She finally pointed out the subsidies paid to associations, calling for people to stop paying subsidies “to people who organize something that is illegal”. She was found guilty of public defamation against an individual, the courts considering that the remarks “exceeded the dose of exaggeration possible in the context in which they were uttered” and that “the limits of freedom of expression (have) been crossed.”

She was sentenced to a suspended fine of 500 euros, as well as two thousand euros in court costs and one euro in damages. Last month, the Paris prosecutor’s office requested a trial in the case of the parliamentary assistants of FN European deputies. A story that dates back to the period 2004-2016.