Some exchanges are funny most often the tone is serious

"It's hard to be loved by cons...". . The title refers to a drawing on the "Charlie Hebdo", February 8, 2006: "Muhammad overwhelmed by fundamentalists". It shows the Prophet delivering that phrase, the head the hands between rage and despair. The satirical weekly publishes this day there twelve Muhammad cartoons published five months earlier in the Danish newspaper "Jyllands-Posten", giving rise to violent protests fires, lootings, bag of diplomatic buildings in the Muslim world. A week before "Charlie Hebdo", "France-evening" has published the cartoons. Its Director was dismissed in the wake. A day after, "The Express" will publish these same designs; its owner, the aircraft manufacturer Serge Dassault, which has business interests in the Muslim world, will take the decision to get rid of his weekly. The mosque of Paris, the Union of Islamic organizations of world France (UOIF) and the Islamic League undertake proceedings against "Charlie Hebdo". Two cartoons bother the complainants, in addition to the cover; one representative Mohammed with a bomb in the turban (announcing a new concept: the "turbombe"); another showing of terrorists arriving in heaven and its answer: "Stop!". The Virgin stock is exhausted!

A year later, on February 7, 2007, the trial starts. It will last two days at the end of which the complainants will be unsuccessful and "Charlie Hebdo", relaxed. Daniel Leconte, Director of a dozen documentaries ("The second life of Klaus Barbie" in 1986 with "Fidel Castro, childhood of a Chief" in 2004) filming the trial. In reality, he filmed scenes before, it'll spin after the judgment, and he filmed the protagonists in the Hall des pas perdus of the Palace of justice of Paris, the Act prohibiting the filming in a courtroom.

"Tort of expression".

A trial, it is a match, a battle, a way to make the war by other means (rather than the canon law), with warlords a bit of rhetoric. The décor is planted. The side of the complainants, Mr. Szpiner, fearsome contest; in the face, Philippe Val, Director of "Charlie Hebdo", and his lawyers Georges Kiejman, former Minister of François Mitterrand, and Richard Malka, them as brilliant dialecticiens; in the room, the designers of the newspaper, Cabu, Wolinski, Charb... A dozen of witnesses are announced, including François Hollande, François Bayrou, Denis Jeambar, then boss of the writing of "The Express"... The points of view are irreconcilable. The complainants denounce "a true crime of expression of racial hatred". Cartoons, say, are likely to spread the amalgam between Muslims and terrorists.

For the accused, the freedom of expression is not negotiated. It must be able to criticize all religions; on the other hand, one cannot criticize an individual because of his religion. Some exchanges are funny; most often, the tone is serious. Elisabeth Badinter explains that give, it would be losing a decisive battle. "The first to associate islam with a weapon, it is not"Charlie Hebdo", is the Saudi State", explained the Algerian journalist Mohamed Sifaoui, sentenced to death by Salafis, pamphlet the flag of the Kingdom: on a green background, the profession of faith Koranic calligraphy, adorned with a sabre. The caricature of the "turbombe" It denounced the abusive interpretation of the name of God, of the dogma, by terrorists, argues defence. In its judgment, the Tribunal considers that "the context and the circumstances of its publication (...)". "appear" exclusive of any deliberate offending Muslims all directly and free of charge, and that "the permissible limits of freedom of expression therefore were not exceeded.

"Space of dialogue."

"The two opposing parties built, beyond the judicial stage, a space for democratic dialogue to resolve a problem that divided French society, concludes Daniel Leconte." "Without a trial, there would have been neither debate of this quality nor case law". The film, a little long, is a critical documentary on freedom of expression, an exemplary lesson in civic education. Exiting room, cannot help but think of Voltaire: "The freedom to publish his thoughts is the natural right of the citizen in a worthy of the name Republic." And the injunction of the enlightenment: "Sapere aude" "dare think for yourself" , which did not take a ride.