When you flirt with an aspiring terrorist on the internet while discussing jihad, where does flirting stop and "associating with criminal terrorists" begin? In the case of Serge D., 68, a gay Catholic living in a castle, the Paris judicial court ruled that the "red line" had been significantly crossed. He was sentenced in 2023 to three years' imprisonment, two suspended and one year under an electronic bracelet, and fined €40,000.
On Monday, September 9, this atypical case returned to the Paris Court of Appeal for a second hearing, Serge D. having appealed his conviction: "I felt that the conviction was unjustified," he explained at the start of the trial. "Being considered a terrorist is something I can't accept. I don't mind taking responsibility for my screw-ups, but not that!"
At the start of his questioning by one of the three judges, he conceded: "Today, I have realized that I went really far in my delusions and that I made a huge mistake that I'm paying for dearly in all areas."
In real life, Serge D. looks good with his rectangular glasses, three-day white beard, green short-sleeved polo shirt and paunch protruding from his jeans. On social media, Serge D. called himself "Abou Marc Reconverti" and posted an image of a lion.
– "Why a lion?" asked the judge.
– "I thought it was funny, the lion is the Catholic symbol of the apostle Mark."
– "Yes, but it is also a symbol for Daech [Arabic acronym for the Islamic State organization, IS]?"
– "I was playing both sides, it was a way of poking fun at them."
And yet, in his online exchanges, Serge D. praised the perpetrator of an attack, on February 2, 2020, in London, to one interlocutor: "He's a lion! We have to be proud of him. He's a martyr who has earned Allah's paradise. Allahu akbar."
Talking without listening
As the interrogation progressed, Serge D. became discernibly less self-confident. "I got into a kind of spiral without realizing it." Initially, he had a "fantasy of the Muslim who physically attracted" him. He evoked "a kind of superman," without ever calling the jihadists by name. He thought he was hitting on Muslims, not would-be terrorists. He seemed to believe that "jihad" and "hijra" (emigration to a land of Islam as a prerequisite for holy war) are part of the vocabulary of all Muslims. The judge questioning him found it hard to believe: "Who did you want to please? Pro-jihad radicalized Muslims, not Muslims in general."
Two different realities were described. Serge D. spoke of "unhealthy curiosity," "gear," "role-playing" and a "character." The judge retorted: Telegram messaging, prepaid phone cards, videos of fights and executions. "Your correspondents don't know who you are."
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