Judgment Thursday in the case of the intrusion of far-right activists at SOS Méditerranée


The Marseille criminal court will deliver its judgment on Thursday, October 20 concerning the 23 far-right activists of Génération Identitaire tried for their action “punchin the premises of the migrant relief NGO SOS Méditerranée in Marseille in 2018.

On Monday, the prosecution had requested prison sentences of six months, suspended to one year, against the young activists of Génération identitaire, a far-right small group dissolved in March 2021 by the government, denouncing an operation “extraordinary” who has “went beyond simple freedom of expression“.

SEE ALSO – Intrusion at SOS Méditerranée: the civil parties welcome the “firmness” of the indictment

“Accomplice of the smugglers”

A political trial“, had replied the lawyer of several defendants, Me Vincent Payan, in his pleading Monday, asking the court to “judge men, women and not ideas“, defendant “young boys and girls who only wanted to hang a banner in a window and who from start to finish had only one demand in mind, non-violence“. Started on October 10, this trial ended with the last argument of the defense on Tuesday morning, then the announcement of the date of the deliberation.

On October 5, 2018, a “commandoof 22 activists, aged 18 to 33 at the time of the events, had rushed into the narrow corridor of the apartment converted into offices for the NGO rescue at sea, shouting “Identity generation!to hang a banner denouncing the NGOaccomplice of the smugglerswhile cracking smoke bombs. A last activist, from the street, had filmed the action before broadcasting it on social networks. The whole thing was just onepolitical happening” for “Send a message“, insisted the defendants at the bar. “As does Greenpeace“, has even slipped one of them.

Strongly disorganized association

The civil parties, and in particular the seven employees of SOS Méditerranée, painted a completely different picture, worthy of a “terrorist attack“, evoking an action of”unprecedented violence“, from which they keep lasting consequences. The association, severely disorganized after the action and forced to move its headquarters, requested 75,000 euros in compensation for its economic damage, 100,000 euros for moral damage and “undermining its missionand 100,000 euros for damage to its brand and reputation.

For the seven employees, Me François de Cambiaire requested 15,000 euros per person for compensation for their damage. SOS Méditerranée, an NGO based in Marseille, still rescues, now via its ship Ocean Viking, migrants trying to reach Europe on makeshift boats in the central Mediterranean, the deadliest migratory route in the world.



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