Author of hate message against victims sentenced to one year in prison

“I didn’t want to glorify terrorism. It was to attract attention, ”he tried to justify himself. The author of a hate message against the victims of the attack on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, which killed 86 people on July 14, 2016, was sentenced Monday to one year in prison by the criminal court from Auxerre.

The representative of the public prosecutor had requested eighteen months. In pre-trial detention since September 13, the defendant, aged 21, was also sentenced to a three-year socio-judicial follow-up, with a treatment order.

Decapitation videos in his phone

The young man, a resident of Auxerre, was found guilty of having posted on Instagram, on August 28, 2022, images of the ram truck which drove into the crowd, accompanied by the comment “Nissa merda, 80 fachos disappeared”. Several videos and images of the beheading as well as photos of the Taliban were found in his mobile phone. “I found these videos intriguing. They challenged me. I sent them because I didn’t want to keep them for myself,” he said.

The defendant had already been sentenced in July 2020, for acts committed when he was a minor, to five months’ imprisonment with suspended probation for apology for terrorism and death threat. He had also been sentenced to one year and four months’ imprisonment with ten months of probation reinforced in February 2022 for death threats, identity theft and repeated sending of malicious messages.

“For me, he is an Islamist”

Placed in social assistance for younger children, he is now under reinforced curatorship. A first psychiatric expertise, requested in the context of his trial on Monday, concluded that there was an alteration in discernment, but a second later considered that it was only “a vulnerability conducive to elements of indoctrination”. “For me, he’s an Islamist,” said Carolina Mondino, victim of the attacks and member of the Life for Nice association.

“For him, he was only addressing Marseille supporters,” pleaded his lawyer, Ahamada Chamssoudine, referring to the OM club of which the defendant is a supporter. “There was no glorification of the terrorist act,” the council said.

“I wanted to apologize to the victims. I know that, for you, I meant it, but really, I didn’t mean it,” the defendant told the hearing. This was held while the trial of the July 14 attack continues in Paris.