“Excusable defense”: all about this concept defended by Eric Zemmour

The presidential candidate of the Reconquête! says he wants to create an “excusable right of defense”, pushing the limits of the notion of self-defense, which includes in particular the principle of proportionality, according to him unsuitable.

During his meeting in Cannes on January 22, he declared: “With this new legal protection, robbed traders, robbed citizens and police officers in danger will finally have the right to fight back against thugs”.

Self-defence, a principle of French law

However, self-defense does exist in France. Article 122-5 of the Penal Code provides that “a person is not criminally liable who, in the face of an unjustified attack on himself or others, performs, at the same time, an act ordered by the necessity of the self-defense of itself or of others, unless there is a disproportion between the means of defense employed and the seriousness of the attack”.. Clearly, “French law excludes responding to a punch with a shot from an automatic weapon”, explains a criminal lawyer. But for the candidate, this self-defense allows “thugs to get away with it”.

A renewed debate

In his arguments, Eric Zemmour relies in particular on the case of the Nice jeweler, dating from 2018. The man had shot one of the burglars in the back. In this case, self-defense had not been retained, the jeweler had been sentenced to 5 years in prison suspended for intentional violence with weapons resulting in death without intention to give it. For example, a member of the campaign team explained, according to TF1, that “if an elderly person is robbed and beaten, but finding a gun, he shoots his burglars and kills them, then the judge could consider that this person certainly exceeded proportionality, but was in an excusable state of excitement or shock and therefore that his act was excusable.