6 months suspended prison sentence, €1,000 fine, €7,000 in damages, a citizenship course: the Criminal Court of Pointe-à-Pitre has severely convicted François Vatel, alias “Edson X”, for his defamatory comments and public insults against the host Judith Symphorien , Mid-August.
The decision was made in the afternoon of next Tuesday, March 29, 2022: François Vatel, better known by his stage name “Edson X“, was sentenced by the Criminal Court of Pointe-à-Pitre to 6 months suspended imprisonment and a fine of 1,000 euros.
He will also have to follow an integration course. The man was found guilty of making defamatory remarks and ordering public insult against radio host Judith Symphorien.
The latter will receive 5,000 euros in compensation. The convicted person will also have to pay 2000 euros to his employer, RCI.
Examined in the morning, Edson X stood out because of his absence from the hearing.
The words used against Edson X were widely disseminated on social networks via audio. A recording dating from August 17, 2021, at the height of the highly deadly fourth wave of the Covid-19 epidemic, in Guadeloupe.
Judith Symphorien was moved that day by the number of obituaries (there were 137 names, unheard of in the archipelago) and called on the population to “is being organised”to stop this massacre.
Some thought the professional was advocating the anti-Covid vaccination, which was unpopular with much of the local population; many have verbally lynched her, especially on the internet.
Among them François Vatel, commercial by profession, next to rapper; this one called the host “complicit in genocideby adding “damn journalist, we’ll find you”†
The journalists of Guadeloupe La 1ère were also splashed in this intervention.
Once identified and heard, François Vatel told investigators it was a private conversation, broadcast without his knowledge.
The radio host and her employer were represented at that day’s hearing by Maîtres Evita Chevry, Roland Ezelin and Sarah Aristide. According to the latter, the defendantexpresses a primary and imbecile view. He is a small man who has such contempt for women that he does not dare to confront them directly.”†
Judith Symphorien has expressed her disorder, while saying she has always acted with empathy, with her listeners, during the 39 years she has been on the air.
For the prosecution, the facts were perfectly laid out. The prosecutor had demanded a six-month suspended prison sentence, a fine of 1,500 euros and a citizenship internship. An indictment that Master Aristide himself judged”seriously”corn”at the height of the comments made, the insults made, the slander and threats”†
We are dealing with violations that unfortunately are not sufficiently sanctioned. Perhaps I think on the contrary that we are not immune to an increase in the sanctions that we risk after abuse through all social networks.
Maître Sarah Aristide, lawyer for Judith Symphorien and RCI
It should also be noted that Edson X’s criminal record has eight entries, for rebellion, carrying weapons, or even death threats.
