Circular coming soon recognizing ‘disrespect for religious principles’ during violence

For the government it is a matter of responding to violence against minors. Traveling to Viry-Châtillon (Essonne), a town marked by the death of Shemseddine, brutally beaten near his college, Gabriel Attal provided the initial legal response.

“The Minister of Justice will issue a criminal circular so that if you are attacked due to non-compliance with religious principles (or) retained the aggravating circumstance, as in the case when someone is attacked because he professes a certain religion,” the Prime Minister said.

This Friday, Eric Dupont-Moretti confirms that this text “will be published in the coming hours.” “We attack someone because they are Jewish, this discrimination is an aggravating circumstance, but we attack someone because they did not observe Ramadan, for example, and this can be supported (as an aggravating circumstance) but this is not always the case. This is what I will remind prosecutors of in this circular,” explains the Minister of Justice on the RTL channel.

In Viry-Châtillon, the Prime Minister promised a quick response from his government to the “predilection for violence” of some young people before the summer.

“The attack of evil fundamentally means the continuation of our merciless fight against separatism, and especially against Islamist separatism. Increasingly, youth violence occurs against a backdrop of contestation of republican values, contestation of secularism and violence on this basis. This is unacceptable,” he said.

“There is no doubt that a young girl could not walk freely there without a veil if she wanted to.” There is no way a young boy can eat whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Everywhere in France the only law that applies is the law of the Republic,” he added.

“Justification of the Minority” on the table

A “commitment agreement” to respect the authority and values ​​of the Republic, including secularism, should also see the light of day between parents, educational institutions and students. Failure to comply with this contract may result in sanctions or even legal action in the most serious cases.

The Justice Minister said this Friday that 50,000 places are “available” in boarding schools to allow teenagers to be “extracted from environments that may be criminal.” To supervise these teenagers, “we will have soldiers, policemen, gendarmes, educational and judicial protection of youth,” listed Eric Dupont-Moretti, speaking of “benevolent authorities.” This is about a “helping hand” for “overburdened mothers,” he concluded.

Also discussed is a “mitigation” of the “minority justification,” a legal principle that means a minor between the ages of 16 and 18 is punished less severely than an adult. Eric Dupont-Moretti stresses that the government wanted a “real consultation” on the issue, which “was not a joke.” “Nothing is off the table, everything is on the table,” he says.