Bill No. 3452 on global security

After Bill No. 2992, carried among others by Eric Ciotti (Les Républicains) and aimed at criminalising the dissemination of images of law-enforcement officers, it is now La République en Marche (LREM)'s turn to take up the same subject.

The government in office, through Jean‑Michel Fauvergue — MP for Seine-et-Marne, and above all former head of the RAID — presents Bill No. 3452. It is a bill on global security, a vast subject dealt with across 32 articles. The justification text tells us that

The bill aims to […] be inventive and innovative in order to strengthen the security continuum, while fully respecting the identities and missions of each of the actors contributing to it. It also aims to equip each of them with the means and resources to carry out the missions entrusted to them more effectively and more simply.

A noble goal — so then why Article 24?! Here it is:

Paragraph 3 of Chapter IV of the law of 29 July 1881 on the freedom of the press is supplemented by an Article 35 quinquies worded as follows:



" Art. 35 quinquies. – Any person who, by any means whatsoever and on any medium whatsoever, disseminates, with the aim of causing harm to their physical or psychological integrity, the image of the face or any other identifying element of a national police officer or a national gendarme when acting in the context of a police operation, is punishable by one year's imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros."



II. – Article 35 quinquies of the law of 28 July 1881 on the freedom of the press does not prevent the disclosure, to the competent administrative and judicial authorities in the course of the proceedings they conduct, of images and identifying elements of a national police officer or a national gendarme.

This is, word for word, the Bill No. 2992 by Eric Ciotti. Astounding.

The text will be debated at the National Assembly from 17 November. Sad news for democracy and the freedom of the press…