Algerian influencer “Zazou Youcef” sentenced to 18 months in prison for his comments on TikTok

"I just love my country." With his long hair tied in a ponytail and a thin black down jacket, Youcef Aziria – aka Zazou Youssef on TikTok – arrived in the dock at the Brest court with drawn features from a month of pretrial detention spent in solitary confinement. During the hearing, he tried to demonstrate that the comments he made on his TikTok account were not virulent, while the public prosecutor saw them as "incitement to commit a terrorist act" deserving a 24-month prison sentence. After deliberation, the court finally sentenced him to 18 months in prison with a ten-year ban on appearing on French territory.

In a first video, the 25-year-old, born in Mostaganem, Algeria, and who arrived in France in 2020, threatened to commit attacks against opponents of the Algerian regime on New Year's Eve. "We're going to shoot you (...) Do you want to go out on January 1? Shoot them, we have to get the guns out. President Tebboune, shoot them, they want chaos," declared the influencer, known under the pseudonym "Zazou Youssef" and followed by 400,000 people before his account was banned by the platform. In court on Monday, he claimed that his remarks had been misunderstood. "I was addressing the Algerian army and I said 'shoot them so they go home and don't do weird things'," he said timidly.

Also read : Expulsion from Doualemn: what is the “Comex” which is hearing the Algerian influencer this Wednesday?

The defendant maintains that his intention was to prevent opponents of the Tebboune regime from taking to the streets to demonstrate and "so that there is no chaos like after the demonstrations of the 1990s. I am asking the army to create fear in order to restore order in the country." The president, who finds his explanations "not very clear," questions him: "You use the word 'shoot' several times, that's not just creating fear, don't you think?" "It's a figure of speech," the influencer defends himself.

We are at war. At the slightest misstep we will fuck your mothers

"Zazou Youcef"

Youcef Aziria's lawyers, Me Nabil Boudi and Hermine Frapier, intervene by recalling that the video on which the procedure is based is a montage. The remarks were cut, "taken out of context" , and the original version was not found by the investigators. "The original video lasts 3 minutes 50, but the one you are basing it on is only 40 seconds long. With this montage, his remarks have been completely distorted" , argues Me Boudi. "My client responded to a movement launched by other TikTokers who called for uprisings in Algeria against the government in place. But he has no political commitment, his thing is football and besides, apart from the two incriminated videos, you have not found any publication with political connotations" , the criminal lawyer explains.

The second contentious video was published a few days later, in response to the reactions provoked by the first. "We are at war. At the slightest misstep, we will fuck your mothers," threatened the young father, miming a throat-slitting gesture. Then: "Come and confront us. If you have something to say, we are here. We will fuck you, we will rape you and then fuck your mother (...) Long live Algeria, I will finish you off." The videos of this influencer, now under OQTF, were widely relayed and commented on social networks, to the point of creating "a climate of concern," deplored the Brest prosecutor, Camille Miansoni. "With 400,000 followers, we can be surprised that you are so imprudent in your choice of words. Have you thought about the fact that your words could be misinterpreted? That they could lead to action? " , the judge asks him in an attempt to educate. "I said that because I was angry. I regret it, I didn't think about the consequences," defends the young man who has already been convicted of theft and vandalism.

For the Brest public prosecutor, Camille Miansoni, it does not matter that the first video is a montage, "when you hear 'shoot them and kill them' when it is a public demonstration, you have acts that harm the life or integrity of people" . Furthermore, the fact that the target is "the demonstrators who are demanding a change of government" , it follows from a desire to "seriously disturb public order by intimidation or terror" believes the prosecution, which requested 24 months in prison and 5 years of exclusion from the territory. At the end of the hearing, the court effectively said it was "convinced of his guilt" . Receiving the blow, Youcef Aziria left, handcuffed, his relatives left the room in tears.