A Parisian investigating judge has been investigating for several months a possible ethnic registration of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) players in the 2010s, after receiving a complaint from the League of Human Rights (LDH), Agence France learned on Wednesday. -Presse (AFP). October 16 from sources close to the matter. The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed to AFP that it had opened a judicial investigation into this case in May, which was already the subject of a first investigation, closed in August 2022.
“PSG did not commit any discrimination, as the prosecution demonstrated. The latter has already indicated that it has rendered a classification without further processing in this case.”the club reacted, defended by Mmy Antonio Maisonneuve.
At the end of 2018, a media collective, in particular Half part and “Special Envoy” in France, revealed that the Parisian club’s recruitment unit had mentioned ethnic criteria between 2013 and 2018 in its evaluation sheets for young players, classified as ” French “, “Maghrebi”, “West India”, “African”.
PSG initially defended itself by explaining that the IPO had been the result of a “personal initiative of the manager” of the “Training center contracting unit, dedicated to territories outside the Ile-de-France”managed at that time by Marc Westerloppe, who left at the beginning of 2018 for Stade Rennes. But quickly, everyday life The team had presented a document according to which ethnic criteria also appeared in the files of the Ile-de-France unit.
Fine to the LFP in 2019
Following these revelations, PSG began an internal investigation that concluded that there had been no “There are no proven cases of discrimination”despite the existence of an ethnic list, and announced “measures aimed at strengthening ethical practices” inside him.
Following these revelations, the club was fined 100,000 euros in January 2019 by the disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League. Several club officials also received suspended fines.
Within the framework of a criminal proceeding, the LDH had filed a complaint against X for discrimination and for the collection and processing of personal data that reveal racial or ethnic origins.
The criminal investigation was closed in August 2022 due to “insufficiently characterized crime”but the LDH filed a new complaint with the creation of a civil party in early 2023. “We are very satisfied that this procedure has been opened, despite the dismissal by a section of the Paris prosecutor’s office”commented M.my Arié Alimi, LDH lawyer contacted by AFP. “The motivations question the positioning of this section, in theory charged with combating discrimination and hate speech”he added.
