Around a hundred lawyers and student lawyers gathered on Friday in Lyon to denounce a call from an ultra-right site to 'eliminate' lawyers who signed a forum against the National Rally. The vice president of the Lyon bar, Sara Kebir, emphasized, 'We cannot target lawyers by name, call for them to be eliminated.' She highlighted the exceptional mobilization of lawyers in a very short time, with the call to demonstrate having been launched Friday morning.
The Council of the Order of the Paris Bar contacted the public prosecutor on Thursday after the ultra-right site 'Free Network – the network of patriots' published an article entitled 'List (very partial) of lawyers to be eliminated,' which included the names of signatories of the forum against the National Rally. The Paris prosecutor’s office stated that the report is currently being analyzed.
The column, published on the website of the weekly Marianne, was signed by around a hundred lawyers, mainly from the Paris and Caen bars. It was entitled 'Lawyers, we form a legal brigade against the National Rally' and positioned the signatories against the National Rally, describing it as a danger for society due to its racist, anti-Semitic, and supremacist ideology.
Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, condemned the threats, stating, 'Those who want the death of our freedoms always start by attacking lawyers.' The council of the Paris Bar Association also referred the matter to the public prosecutor's office, with its president, Pierre Hoffman, asserting that democracy is threatened when lists of lawyers to be eliminated circulate.
The Association of Criminal Lawyers (ADAP) noted that this is the first time there has been an explicit call in France to murder lawyers. The legal community remains resolute in its stance against such threats, affirming their commitment to the rule of law and democracy.
- In a collective column published in the weekly Marianne, around a hundred lawyers openly positioned themselves against the National Rally, which they described as advocating a racist, anti-Semitic, and supremacist ideology. This prompted the ultra-right site 'Free Network – the network of patriots' to publish a list of these lawyers, calling for their elimination.
- The site added inflammatory comments, stating, 'History is an eternal start again, we are publishing a list of lawyers to be eliminated, we are not formally identified, we will not be arrested, and we may be convicted, who cares!' The site also mentioned a previous complaint filed against it by the 'vermin in black dresses.'
- The legal community's response has been swift and unified, with multiple bars calling for demonstrations and referring the threats to the public prosecutor. The Minister of Justice and the President of the Paris Bar Association have both publicly condemned the threats, underscoring the importance of protecting lawyers and upholding democratic principles.
