A kitty, launched by Jean Messiha, a figure of the far right, in support of the family of the policeman who killed Nahel has collected more than a million euros in less than a week.
[Mis à jour le 3 juillet 2023 à 20h04] She raised more than a million euros. The kitty called “Support for the family of the Nanterre policeman” was set up by Jean Messiha, a far-right polemicist, with the aim of financially helping the family of the policeman involved in the death of Nahel in Nanterre, in Hauts-de-Seine. Éric Zemmour’s support for the 2022 presidential election had initially opened a kitty via the French platform Leetchi which had blocked it a few hours later, before falling back on the GoFundMe platform. While more than 50,000 people have made donations, politicians, shocked by the process, are calling for the closure of the kitty hosted on the American site. Asked about the subject, Elisabeth Borne affirmed that “it is not up to the government to decide whether or not the existence of a pot but to justice”. “The fact that it was someone close to the extreme right who carried this kitty does not help to bring appeasement,” she added.
Faced with the controversy, the GoFundMe platform assured that it would not take the decision to close the kitty, judging it in accordance with its rules, because the funds “will be paid directly to the family in question. The family has been added as beneficiary and therefore the funds will be paid directly to them”. A brief description introduces this Fund raising : “Support for the family of the Nanterre policeman, Florian.M who has done his job and who is today paying a high price. Support him MASSIVELY and support our police forces! ” The initial objective of 50,000 euros was widely exploded. The amounts of the donations are between 5 and 3,000 euros.
The American platform refuses to delete the kitty but regulates its use
If the conditions of use are therefore respected by Jean Messiha, the policeman’s family will not be able to use this kitty for legal fees in this case, because “the 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 removed,” 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.
Several left-wing elected officials demand the disappearance of this collection
This kitty can be compared to the one launched in favor of Nahel’s mother, the 17-year-old young man killed by Florian M. About €200,000 was raised thanks to about 10,000 participants, amounts well below Jean Messiha’s pot. Many left-wing politicians and Internet users are moved by this situation. The hashtag #GofundmeComplice, where many users criticize the platform for hosting this fundraiser, is one of the main trends on Twitter.
Olivier Faure, p.first secretary of the Socialist Party, expressed himself on this social network : “You are hosting a kitty of shame @gofundme. You maintain 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 deputy 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 BFM TV. The leader of the Republicans, Eric Ciotti, announced, on LCIthat 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 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 news channel continuously. “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.