Nine individuals were sentenced on Thursday by the Paris Criminal Court for disseminating hateful online messages, including the names and addresses of those suspected of being involved in the high-profile murder of the teenager Thomas in the village of Crépol last year.
The sentences ranged from fines of €500 to four months in prison, with the accused convicted in September on charges including incitement to commit a crime, public insult based on origin, unauthorized disclosure of personal data, and making death threats.
Thomas was a 16-year-old promising rugby player who was stabbed in the chest and neck after leaving a winter ball in the French village last November. The perpetrators, who were of a migration background, had targeted the group Thomas was with in a racially-motivated attack.
Eyewitnesses reported how the knife-wielding gang had boasted, “We are going to kill White people.”
At the sentencing hearing this week, the court imposed various fines, including day fines of €10 for 100 days, and individual fines of €800 or €1,500 on the defendants. A 53-year-old stay-at-home mother, Marylène P., who admitted to reposting the addresses of the suspects in what she called “a big stupidity,” apologized and was subsequently released with no further penalty.
In their posts, which circulated on platforms like Facebook, the defendants shared personal information of the suspects. Le Monde newspaper reported on how Lionel G., a 55-year-old truck driver, reposted photos and names with a comment suggesting the suspects should be dealt with “directly with a gun.”
Another defendant, Gaël L., aged 56, reportedly wrote, “The names of the assassins that the police tried to hide from you are now known,” along with a list of suspects’ addresses. Similarly, Jean-Marie L., 40, a business manager, used sarcastic and racially charged language, referring to the suspects as “Swedes from a good family.”
At their September trial, several defendants appeared bewildered by their presence in court. The judge emphasized that their actions had led to serious consequences for the suspects’ families, including harassing phone calls and threatening letters to their homes.
The prosecutor had sought sentences ranging from four months’ imprisonment to suspended sentences, along with citizenship courses for the defendants at their own expense. Describing these individuals as “speech offenders,” the prosecutor called for punishment of “online hate” and vigilantism in criminal cases.