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“It feels like the sky is falling on your head”, launches the president of the court several times to the two defendants. Olivier Horvath, 56, and Audrey Molina, 29, were both candidates for the Rassemblent national during the departmental elections of June 20 and 27, 2021 in the canton of Palaiseau, in Essonne. But this Friday afternoon, they find themselves before the correctional court of Évry-Courcouronnes, accused of incitement to hatred and violence after having distributed a leaflet in mailboxes in Palaiseau during the campaign.
The procedure started with a lawyer, Me Emmanuel Daoud who, shocked by an electoral leaflet from the RN, sent it to several Ile-de-France prosecutors’ offices, believing that there was cause to prosecute, this leaflet attacking “an vulnerable population, children”. The Immigrant Information and Support Group (Gisti) filed a civil action.
Two long quotations from this leaflet, on which the defendants display their faces, are called into question: it is notably affirmed that unaccompanied foreign minors “are responsible for the explosion of insecurity” and that “only our elected officials will put a End this scandal! “. Or again: “Rather than financing unaccompanied foreign minors or helping to house illegal immigrants, elected officials, we will invest more in the education of our children, the well-being of our elders and the integration of people in situations of disability. »
“It’s a national leaflet. I did not distribute it, ”defends Audrey Molina. Olivier Horvath admits having put it in mailboxes. “And you agree with its content?” asks the president of the court. “No, assures Audrey. I agree on the vulnerability of these children. Many other points of the program could have been highlighted, but not this one. “Your name is on the flyer with your photo,” the judge pointed out. “I had already presented myself in this election and there I was asked again because two people were missing. I did it as a favor and I knew we wouldn’t make it. I made photos for the posters and that’s it. I was not aware of this leaflet, ”discards the candidate.
Dropped by the party that accuses him of treachery
Olivier Horvath says he adheres to the ideas of the offending leaflet. “But I am not the editor, I am surprised that this lawyer attacks us in a personal way. It’s politics. “It is not because it is politics that it is not an offense, retorts the magistrate. What allows you to affirm that unaccompanied minors are responsible for the explosion of insecurity? “I don’t know, I didn’t write it,” blows the 50-year-old who doesn’t take it easy. “What is the source? insists the judge. “Uh… I don’t know. To prove the opposite, it would be necessary to prove that it is false, ”he tries. “That’s not how it works, it’s up to you to prove what you’re saying,” replied the magistrate.
The defendant is visibly overwhelmed: “I trusted the party. I find this procedure outrageous, they are trying to intimidate us. I am an activist. I was a candidate a little by default because there are not tons of them. “But since then, Olivier Horvath has left the RN for another party. He took it badly: “They said I had betrayed them, and they did not follow up on our defense. To have to be condemned for this seems surreal to me. »
Fair play, the president of the court asks the defendants if they wish to be assisted by a lawyer. “I can’t afford it,” replies Audrey. “Yes, obviously, I don’t know how to defend myself,” concedes Olivier. The deputy prosecutor expresses his opposition: “He refused to come to the police to be questioned during the procedure”, argues the prosecution. “Yes, it was on the advice of the party”, remembers Olivier. Very bad advice. The case was finally adjourned to May 27, so that the defendants could hire a lawyer and defend themselves fairly.