Charlie Hebdo: “the Trial of the Most Extreme Form of Censorship”

More than five years after the attack on Charlie Hebdo in which eight members of the editorial staff were killed, 14 people will be tried from September 2 in a trial that will also be that of religious intolerance.

The Charlie Hebdo attack will forever remain a “black Wednesday” in the history of the press. The trial will begin on September 2 and will last until November 10 at the Special Assize Court in Paris. Fourteen people will be tried for having provided logistical and financial assistance to the French jihadists who murdered 17 people, including eight members of the Charlie Hebdo editorial staff . While shouting “Allahu akbar”, the Kouachi brothers killed, on January 7, 2015, the cartoonists Cabu, Charb, Tignous, Honoré, Wolinski, the chroniclers Bernard Maris, Elsa Cayat and the corrector Mustapha Ourrad . 

The Paris Assize Court will not see three of the 14 defendants appearing, possibly dead or on the run, nor the three assassins, shot dead by the police. As for the alleged sponsors about whom the investigations are continuing, their possible implication will not be examined within the framework of this lawsuit. In spite of these absences, the assizes will notably make it possible to do justice to the journalists and cartoonists victims of this tragedy. 

“The trial of the Charlie Hebdo attack is the most extreme form of censorship, to use the expression of the writer George Bernard Shaw ,” said Christophe Deloire, secretary general of RSF. While restrictions on freedom of expression are permissible to protect individuals, the freedom to criticize systems of thought is absolute. Religious intolerance, an ideology too often fueled by states, is today at the root of terrible violence against journalists. ”

While 90% of those responsible for crimes against journalists around the world go unpunished, the hearings that are starting in Paris are an important step in the fight against this impunity. “ This trial is essential for all Charlies in the world, ” summarizes Christophe Deloire. During a press conference organized on January 6, 2020 with the UN special rapporteurs in charge of freedom of religion or belief and freedom of opinion and expression and Richard Malka, Charlie Hebdo  lawyer , RSF called on international organizations and states to protect journalists from religious intolerance.

Of the 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index established by RSF in 2020, France is in 34th place.

Copyright ©2016, Reporters Without Borders. Used with the permission of Reporters Without Borders(RSF), CS 90247 75083 Paris Cedex 02 https://rsf.org

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