The prosecutor requests seven years in prison for the arrested person
MADRID, 5 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Algerian ‘influencer’ Zazou Youcef, arrested on Friday in France for allegedly inciting his community to commit attacks in the country, will be tried on February 24, according to the prosecutor, who has requested a sentence of 7 years in prison and a fine of 100,000 euros.
“(Youcef) is being prosecuted before the Brest criminal court under the deferred appearance procedure for acts of public apology for an act of terrorism committed through a public online communication service,” said the prosecutor of said province, Camille Miansoni.
Thus, he assured that the detainee “will appear on February 24, 2025 at 1:30 p.m.” “He faces a sentence of seven years in prison and a fine of 100,000 euros,” he added, according to the newspaper ‘Le Figaro’.
The French security forces arrested Youcef on Friday because he “called on his community to commit attacks in France”, specifically against them being able to demonstrate against the Government of Algeria, chaired by Abdelmayid Tebune.
The French Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, confirmed the arrest of this young man in the town of Brest, in western France. Now, “he will have to answer for his actions before justice,” warned Retailleau, who thanked the security forces and the judges for their work in proceeding with the arrest.
The Government has also requested the elimination of the videos broadcast in recent days by Zazou Youcef, with some 400,000 followers on TikTok and who had already been subject to an expulsion order since last April.
In one of his videos, he threatened to attack people who could demonstrate against the Algerian regime — “shoot them, we will bury them with the Jews,” he even said –, while this same week he spoke openly of “war” and, while simulating a beheading, he proclaimed: “At the slightest misstep, we will fuck your mothers.”
This case may open a new diplomatic front with Algeria, with whom France has already distanced itself due to another arrest, that of the French Algerian writer Boualem Sansal. This author was arrested in mid-November in Algiers after returning from France, after he made some controversial comments about colonization.
This same Thursday, a spokesperson for the French Foreign Ministry acknowledged that the Government was “very concerned” and would defend “tirelessly” freedom of opinion and expression. “State services are fully mobilized to monitor the situation of our compatriot so that he can benefit from the consular protection that corresponds to him as a French citizen,” he added.