“There is nothing to reproach us with,” “a list of absurd things”: the leader of the small far-right group La Citadelle, Aurélien Verhassel, condemned on Monday the “unfair and unreasonable” dissolution procedure aimed at the Lille association. “The La Citadelle association has been subjected to continuous legal harassment for nine years,” he told the press. Aurélien Verassel said he would go to the Interior Ministry on Wednesday to “give an explanation.”
This procedure, which began “a few days” ago, according to a source close to the matter, comes after the dissolution of another small far-right group, the Martel Division, in the Council of Ministers on Wednesday. “They (the Ministry of the Interior, NLDR) are going to dissolve us on the grounds of insulting public opinion,” added the former member of the dissolved Génération identitaire group, clarifying that he was “never convicted for the alleged facts.” .
During the press conference, the head of the bar of the same name listed some of the 20 points that the association was criticized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Only “five have a direct connection to the Citadel,” confirmed Aurélien Verhassel; the rest, he said, have nothing to do with it or are attacking him personally.
Council of State or European Court of Human Rights
The association, which has become famous for spreading “hateful ideology,” is particularly accused of a video published in 2016 by I-Télé (now Cnews), in which Aurélien Verhassel allegedly mentions the “white race” criterion for membership. La Citadel. The accusation is denied by the manager, who supports the channel’s editing, although in fact he was quoting “a passage attributed to De Gaulle.”
Another point that was criticized by the association this time was a segment broadcast on RMC Story, “in which I suggested that Muslims should return to live their religion in peace in the land of Islam, regardless of whether they leave by plane, boat or flying saucers,” he said. added. “It is always wrong to be right in front of everyone else,” he defended, justifying the defense of “all cultures (…), including Islam, in the land of Islam.”
Bar La Citadelle, the headquarters of the far right in Lille, was closed in mid-February by the mayor’s office, but administrative justice allowed it to reopen at the end of February, considering that the city authorities had not followed the relevant procedure. Following the banned evening, Lille prosecutors nevertheless opened an investigation on February 13 into “public incitement to hatred or violence based on origin, ethnicity or race.” “I have good reason to believe that dissolution will not be considered by the Council of State,” Mr. Verhassel concluded. “Otherwise we will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.”
Source: Le Parisien
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