Jean Messiha, a far-right figure, has launched a kitty in support of the family of Florian M., the police officer who killed Nahel in Nanterre. The success is dazzling because more than one million euros was collected in less than five days. However, the family must respect certain rules to receive this donation.
“Support for the Nanterre policeman’s family”: this is the title of one of the most popular fundraisers in the world today. It is the work of far-right polemicist Jean Messiha, intended for the family of the policeman who killed Nahel in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). After a first failed attempt on the French platform Leetchi, the former spokesperson for Eric Zemmour redirected himself to the American site Gofundme. To date, more than 50,000 donations have been recorded for an amount now exceeding the symbolic bar of one million euros.
A brief description outlines this fundraiser: “Support for the family of Nanterre police officer, Florian.M who did his job and today is paying the full price. Support him MASSIVELY and support our law enforcement! “The initial target of 50,000 euros has been largely blown up. The amounts of the donations are between 5 and 3,000 euros.
Many elected officials and citizens have publicly criticized the Gofundme site for hosting this kitty. Contacted by Tech
However, the police officer’s family will not be able to use this kitty for legal fees in this case, because “kitties whose funds will be used for the legal defense of a violent crime or pages containing hate speech are not allowed and will be deleted” according to Gofundme. In 2019, the yellow vest Christophe Dettinger, could not receive nearly 145,000 euros on Leetchi after hitting several police officers in Paris. The company reacted to the controversy by explaining that the kitty did not respect its general conditions of use which “prohibit any incitement to hatred or violence.”
The family of the imprisoned police officer will be able to use this money collected. But the law of July 29, 1881, article 40, indicates that “it is forbidden to open or publicly announce subscriptions for the purpose of compensating fines, costs and damages pronounced by judicial convictions, in matters criminal and correctional, under penalty of six months’ imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros, or one of these two penalties only”. The funds will therefore be paid directly to the family and not strictly to the police officer in order to respect the rules of the platform.
This kitty can be compared to the one launched in favor of the mother of Nahel, the 17-year-old young man killed by Florian M. About €200,000 was collected thanks to around 10,000 participants, amounts much lower than Jean’s kitty Messiha. Many left-wing politicians and Internet users are moved by this situation. The hashtag
Olivier Faure, first secretary of the Socialist Party, spoke on this social network: “You are hosting a kitty of shame @gofundme. You are maintaining an already gaping fracture by participating in the support of a police officer indicted for intentional homicide. Close!”. Thomas Portes, La France insoumise deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis, evokes the collection as a “shame” and encourages the platform to stop the kitty because “otherwise you are an accomplice in the remuneration of a killer”. Eric Bothorel, Renaissance MP for Côtes-d’Armor, believes that Jean Messiha is blowing “on the embers” because his gesture would be “a generator of riots”.
The prefect of police of Paris, Laurent Nunez, indicated “not to have any comments to make” on this controversy, at the microphone of BFMTV. The leader of the Republicans, Eric Ciotti, announced, on LCI, that he would not participate financially in this fundraiser but “that we support the family of a police officer who is also in a trial today, that does not does not seem shocking to me”
Nahel’s grandmother testified that she was “sick at heart” when she saw the success of Jean Messiha’s initiative, on the continuous news channel. “But he will be punished like everyone else. I trust justice,” she added. A second similar kitty, launched by the friendly bikers of 92, has collected more than 50,000 euros at present.
