The author of death threats against the director of the Parisian institute Maurice Ravel, after an altercation between the latter and an adult student whom he asked to remove her veil, was convicted, on Monday, November 18, by the Paris Criminal Court to a prison sentence. 60 days, fine of 10 euros each.
These 60 days of fine, which total 600 euros, can be equivalent to days in prison if the convicted person does not pay them. The court also sentenced him to take a five-day citizenship course and pay 3,000 euros in damages to Philippe Le Guillou, the principal at the time of the events. After these incidents, Mr. Le Guillou had anticipated his retirement by a few months.
it’s about “a surprising sentence that trivializes hate speech against establishment managers who receive death threats in the exercise of their duties”Francis Lec, his lawyer, reacted in a statement, who hopes that the prosecution will appeal. Asked after leaving the room about his state of mind in the middle of the trial of eight people involved in the murder of Samuel Paty, the former director admitted to being shaken: “Each trial puts everything back on the table, it is not easy”.
“I apologize”
The Ravel Institute affair dates back to February 28. The principal had an altercation with an adult student whom he asked to remove her veil on school grounds. The next day, several death threats were posted on the Internet, including that of AA, the 27-year-old on trial in Paris, who wrote on his X account: “It’s crazy. “This dog must be burned alive.”.
The complaint of violence filed by the student involved in the altercation was dismissed at the end of March by “insufficiently characterized crime”. “I deeply regret it and ask for forgiveness.”AA told the court during his trial in October.
During the hearing, the murders of Samuel Paty in 2020 and Dominique Bernard in 2023 were mentioned numerous times, as well as the difficulty of imposing secularism in educational establishments. “Sometimes it is difficult and sometimes people are afraid”recalled Philippe Le Guillou.
In mid-March, another man arrested as part of this investigation was released in Lisieux (Calvados), but the prosecutor’s office appealed. In November, the prosecutor requested a ten-month suspended prison sentence for a third man tried in Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain). The decision will be made on November 28.
