When you flirt with a wannabe terrorist on the Internet while talking about jihad, where does the flirting end and the “criminal terrorist conspiracy” begin? In the case of Serge D., 68 years old, gentleman, homosexual and Catholic, the 16my The criminal division of the Paris court ruled that the “red line” had been largely crossed. He was sentenced in 2023 to three years in prison, two of which were suspended, and one year on an electronic bracelet, and a fine of 40,000 euros.
This atypical case returned to the Paris Court of Appeal on Monday 9 September for a second instance trial, after Serge D. appealed his conviction: “I found that the conviction was not justified.explains at the opening of the trial. Being considered a terrorist is something I cannot accept. I am willing to take responsibility for my stupidity, but not that!
At the beginning of the questioning by one of the three judges, he admits: “Today I realized that I have gone too far in my delusions and that I have made a huge mistake for which I am paying dearly in all areas.”
In real life, Serge D. cuts a handsome figure with his rectangular glasses, a three-day white beard, a green short-sleeved polo shirt and a belly that sticks out from his jeans. On social media, Serge D. was called “Abou Marc Reconverted” and showed a picture of a lion.
– “Why a lion?”the judge asks.
– I found it funny, the lion is the symbol of the apostle Mark among Catholics.
– Yes, but with Daesh [acronyme arabe de l’organisation Etat islamique, EI], It is also a symbol.
– I was playing both sides, it was a way of making fun of them. »
However, in his online exchanges, he praises the perpetrator of an attack on February 2, 2020 in London, to an interlocutor: “He is a lion!” You should be proud of him. He is a martyr who earned paradise from Allah. Allahu akbar. »
Dialogue of the deaf
As the interrogation progresses, Serge D. loses confidence: “I got into a kind of spiral without realizing it.” Initially, I had a “fantasy of the Muslim who [l]‘physically attracted’. he evokes “a kind of superman”without even calling the jihadists by name. For him, he was flirting with Muslims, not potential terrorists. He seems to believe that the “jihad” and the “hegira”, Emigration to a land of Islam, an essential prerequisite for holy war, is part of the vocabulary of every Muslim. The judge who questions him finds it hard to believe: “Who did you want to please?” Radicalized pro-jihad Muslims, not Muslims in general. »
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