Franco-Algerian Sofia Benlemmane sentenced to 9 months suspended-Liberation
During the hearing, a month ago before the Lyon Criminal Court, she said she regretted her words, « Gorns », « not the words of a mom ». There is all the more material to bite their fingers as they are now worth to Franco-Algerian influencer Sofia Benlemmane a condemnation in justice. The Franco-Algerian was sentenced to 9 months suspended sentence on Tuesday, April 15, April 15. She was continued for « death threats » against opponents of the government of Algiers, formulated on her Tiktok and Facebook accounts, which had some 350,000 subscribers before their suspension.
The prosecution had requested a year in suspended prison. « French law allows you to express yourself in total freedom, but with limits »had launched the representative of the public prosecutor, denouncing « Particularly serious, hateful words, having no place in a democracy ». « We lend him an intellectual, ideological power, and an influence that are not his »had pleaded his lawyer, Me Frédéric Lalliard, evoking « Words returned to the cookie cutter » during « Kids discussions ». “Words have surpassed my thinking. When you are upset you say things, you know well « had advanced Sofia Benlemmane.
In the text, partly translated by a sworn interpreter, the words incriminated in Arabic and in French gave: « If God wants it they will kill you, fuck you naked, they will fuck the pussy to your mother » ; « We when we say that we will catch someone to kill him, we will do it. You know that you are catching you, in Algeria « ; And « I bother you with PD you are dirtying the Muslim religion ». Or even later: « To the devil the race of the Jews, to the devil the race of traitors. »
Sofia Benlemmane was arrested in January, at the same time as other Franco-Algerian Internet usersfor these threats and was placed under judicial supervision. This is not the first time that this former football player has been struggling with justice. In 2001, she was sentenced to seven months suspended prison sentence and three years of stadium ban for entering the lawn of the Stade de France with an Algerian flag during a friendly match France-Algeria.
Regarding other influencers, « Zazou Youssef », prosecuted for calling on Tiktok to perpetrate attacks in France and violence in Algeria, was sentenced at the end of February in Brest to 18 months in prison with a ban on French territory for ten years. « Doualemn » was sentenced in March in Montpellier to five months suspended prison sentence, after the broadcast of a video on Tiktok calling for « Give a severe correction » to an opponent of the Algerian regime.
