The Court of Cassation reaffirmed freedom of expression at the end of a trial targeting a deliberately provocative artistic exhibition, and brought by a far-right association, we learned on Friday December 8 from the organizers of this exposure.
The case concerns the exhibition “Infamille”, in Metz in 2008, organized by the Regional Contemporary Art Fund (Frac) of Lorraine, a public structure financed by the Grand Est Region and the Ministry of Culture. The General Association against Racism and Respect for French and Christian Identity (Agrif), an association founded by traditionalist Catholics and far-right activists, had filed a complaint.
The plaintiffs believed that handwritten texts by the artist Eric Pougeau, virulent criticism of the family, should not have been shown to minor visitors without warning. These texts were deliberately made to shock. “Children, we are going to sodomize you, and crucify you, you are our flesh and our blood,” we read for example.
In November 2013, the Metz high court sentenced the Frac de Lorraine to a symbolic euro in damages, considering that these texts “seriously undermined human dignity”. In January 2017, the Metz Court of Appeal, conversely, dismissed the plaintiffs. It concluded that Agrif had not suffered harm, nor demonstrated that a restriction on freedom of expression was justified.
Seized by the plaintiffs, the Court of Cassation confirmed the interpretation of the court of appeal. “The dignity of the human person cannot be established as an independent basis for restrictions on freedom of expression,” she said on November 17. She thus recalled her jurisprudence from October 2019, in a case of public insult, concerning parodies of electoral posters of Marine Le Pen by the weekly Charlie Hebdo.
In a press release, Frac Lorraine welcomed the fact that its lawyers had “ensured freedom of expression and creation”. The Court of Cassation ordered the complainant association to pay 3,000 euros to the cultural institution.
