The Court of Cassation appealed to by the plaintiffs confirmed the interpretation of the Court of Appeal, which had dismissed the plaintiffs. Xiongmao/stock.adobe.com
The lawsuit against this cultural event organized in Metz in 2008 was filed by a right-wing extremist association.
As we learned on Friday December 8th from the organizers of this exhibition, the Court of Cassation reaffirmed freedom of expression at the end of a trial against a deliberately provocative art exhibition launched by a right-wing extremist association.
The case concerns the exhibition “Notorious», 2008 in Metz, organized by the Regional Fund for Contemporary Art (Frac) Lorraine, a public body 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 artist Eric Pougeau, which contained vicious criticism of the family, should not have been shown to underage visitors without warning. These texts were deliberately shocked. “Children, we will seduce and crucify you, you are our flesh and our blood“, we read, for example.
“Attack on human dignity”
In November 2013, the Metz High Court sentenced the Frac de Lorraine to symbolic damages of euros because these texts “contained”serious attack on human dignity“. In January 2017, the Metz appeal court dismissed the plaintiffs. It concluded that Agrif had not suffered any damage and that it had not been proven that a restriction on freedom of expression was justified.
The Court of Cassation appealed to by the plaintiffs confirmed the interpretation of the Court of Appeal. “The dignity of the human person cannot be used as an independent basis for restrictions on freedom of expression.” she said on November 17th. In doing so, she recalled her ruling from October 2019 in a case of public insult regarding parodies of Marine Le Pen’s election posters by the weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
In a press release, Frac Lorraine welcomed the fact that its lawyers “allows freedom of expression and creation to triumph“. The Court of Cassation ordered the plaintiff association to pay 3,000 euros to the cultural institution.
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