Michel Houellebecq charged over remarks targeting Muslims
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Yabiladi
The writer Michel Houellebecq was placed under formal investigation on Tuesday 10 November by an investigating judge at the Nanterre court, on suspicion of complicity in incitement to hatred against Muslims. According to BFM, the measure follows remarks made in 2022 in an interview with the magazine Front populaire.
The French writer Michel Houellebecq was placed under formal investigation on Tuesday by an investigating judge at the Nanterre court, on suspicion of complicity in inciting discrimination, hatred or violence against a group on the basis of, among other things, its religion, according to BFM, which cites a source close to the case.
The alleged offences date back to an interview published at the end of November 2022 by the magazine Front populaire, during an exchange with the philosopher Michel Onfray. The author of Soumission described Muslims in it as a threat to the safety of “de souche” French people, claimed that the “great replacement” was a fact, and referred to possible “Bataclan in reverse” attacks targeting Muslims. In January 2023, the Union des mosquées de France filed a complaint with the Nanterre court against Michel Houellebecq, Michel Onfray and Stéphane Simon, the magazine’s director.
The writer returned to these remarks in Quelques mois dans ma vie, in which he acknowledges certain clumsy statements.
