2024 Olympics: Thomas Jolly's seven cyberbullies sentenced to fines and suspended prison sentences
By The New Obs with AFP
Published on , updated on
Thomas Jolly in Lille, March 2025. AFC/MPP/SIPA
The Paris Criminal Court on Monday, May 5, imposed fines and suspended prison sentences on seven people prosecuted for sending hateful messages to Thomas Jolly, the director of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
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The court imposed suspended fines of €2,000 to €3,000 on three of the defendants and suspended prison sentences of two to four months on the other four. The seven defendants, including a woman, aged between 22 and 79, will be required to complete a five-day citizenship course, the court also ruled, ordering the suspension of the X accounts of two of the defendants for six months.
These seven people, only one of whom was present at the hearing, will also have to pay 1 euro in damages to the artistic director of the Olympic opening ceremony.
The 17th Chamber of the Paris Criminal Court reclassified the charges against the defendants, ultimately retaining only cyberbullying and aggravated insults for most of them. It only retained the charge of death threats against one defendant, who received a four-month suspended prison sentence.
“Ordinary” profilesDuring the trial last March, the prosecutor had requested suspended prison sentences of three to eight months for the seven defendants. In her submissions, the magistrate had denounced the feeling of impunity of people who react in the heat of the moment and so easily send messages to express their opinion. "However, we know that these comments can then arm a person," she had emphasized, referring to physical attacks after accusations on social networks. "Degenerate Jew" , "queer" , "God will not forget you" , "You will pay for having disrespected our Lord Jesus Christ" ... were among the posts posted by the defendants, arrested last October in the Paris region, in Hérault and the Alpes-Maritimes.
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