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“La France Insoumise has supported repealing the French criminal offence of condoning terrorism.”
The conclusion
Official parliamentary records confirm that LFI deputies introduced a bill repealing the Penal Code offence of condoning terrorism. Although party leaders described their broader goal as moving the matter under press law rather than making such expression lawful, that distinction does not alter their documented support for repealing the existing offence.
Caveats
- Repealing the existing provision does not necessarily imply support for legalizing the underlying conduct.
- LFI leaders said they favored addressing such speech under France's press law instead.
- The evidence concerns proposed legislation, not a repeal that was enacted into law.
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Sources
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PROPOSAL FOR A LAW aimed at repealing the offense of condoning terrorism from the penal code, presented by Mr. Ugo BERNALICIS, Ms. Mathilde PANOT, Ms. Nadège ABOMANGOLI, Mr. Laurent ALEXANDRE, Mr. Gabriel AMARD, Ms. Ségolène AMIOT, Ms. Farida AMRANI, Mr. Rodrigo ARENAS, Mr. Raphaël ARNAULT, Ms. Anaïs BELOUASSA-CHERIFI, Mr. Christophe BEX, Mr. Carlos Martens BILONGO, Mr. Manuel BOMPARD, Mr. Idir BOUMERTIT, Mr. Louis BOYARD, Mr. Pierre-Yves CADALEN, Mr. Aymeric CARON, Mr. Sylvain CARRIÈRE, Ms. Gabrielle CATHALA, Mr. Bérenger CERNON, Ms. Sophia CHIKIROU, Mr. Hadrien CLOUET, Mr. Éric COQUEREL, Mr. Jean-François COULOMME, Mr. Sébastien DELOGU, Mr. Aly DIOUARA, Ms. Alma DUFOUR, Ms. Karen ERODI, Ms. Mathilde FELD, Mr. Emmanuel FERNANDES, Ms. Sylvie FERRER, Mr. Perceval GAILLARD, Ms. Clémence GUETTÉ, Mr. David GUIRAUD, Ms. Zahia HAMDANE, Ms. Mathilde HIGNET, Mr. Andy KERBRAT, Mr. Bastien LACHAUD, Mr. Abdelkader LAHMAR, Mr. Maxime LAISNEY, Mr. Arnaud LE GALL, Mr. Antoine LÉAUMENT, Mr. Aurélien LE COQ, Mr. Jérôme LEGAVRE, Ms. Sarah LEGRAIN, Ms. Claire LEJEUNE, Ms. Murielle LEPVRAUD, Ms. Élisa MARTIN, Mr. Damien MAUDET, Ms. Marianne MAXIMI, Ms. Marie MESMEUR, Ms. Manon MEUNIER, Mr. Jean-Philippe NILOR, Ms. Sandrine NOSBÉ, Ms. Danièle OBONO, Ms. Nathalie OZIOL, Mr. René PILATO, Mr. François PIQUEMAL, Mr. Thomas PORTES, Mr. Loïc PRUD’HOMME, Mr. Jean-Hugues RATENON, Mr. Arnaud SAINT-MARTIN, Mr. Aurélien SAINTOUL, Ms. Ersilia SOUDAIS, Ms. Anne STAMBACH-TERRENOIR, Mr. Aurélien TACHÉ, Ms. Andrée TAURINYA, Ms. Aurélie TROUVÉ, Mr. Paul VANNIER,
the presidency of the National Assembly registers a bill aimed at repealing the offense of condoning terrorism from the penal code. Filed by a deputy of La France insoumise (LFI) - Nouveau Front populaire and 67 of his colleagues, i.e. almost all the members of the LFI group, this text tends to repeal an article entered into the penal code in 2014
BILL aiming to repeal the offense of condoning terrorism from the penal code, presented by Mr. Ugo BERNALICIS, Mrs. Mathilde PANOT, Mrs. Nadège ABOMANGOLI, Mr. Laurent ALEXANDRE, Mr. Gabriel AMARD, Mrs. Ségolène AMIOT, Mrs. Farida AMRANI, Mr. Rodrigo ARENAS, Mr. Raphaël ARNAULT, Mrs. Anaïs BELOUASSA-CHERIFI, Mr. Christophe BEX, Mr. Carlos Martens BILONGO, Mr. Manuel BOMPARD, Mr. Idir BOUMERTIT, Mr. Louis BOYARD, Mr. Pierre-Yves CADALEN, Mr. Aymeric CARON, Mr. Sylvain CARRIÈRE, Mrs. Gabrielle CATHALA, Mr. Bérenger CERNON, Mrs. Sophia CHIKIROU, Mr. Hadrien CLOUET, Mr. Éric COQUEREL, Mr. Jean-François COULOMME, Mr. Sébastien DELOGU, Mr. Aly DIOUARA, Mrs. Alma DUFOUR, Mrs. Karen ERODI, Mrs. Mathilde FELD, Mr. Emmanuel FERNANDES, Mrs. Sylvie FERRER, Mr. Perceval GAILLARD, Mrs. Clémence GUETTÉ, Mr. David GUIRAUD, Mrs. Zahia HAMDANE, Mrs. Mathilde HIGNET, Mr. Andy KERBRAT, Mr. Bastien LACHAUD, Mr. Abdelkader LAHMAR, Mr. Maxime LAISNEY, Mr. Arnaud LE GALL, Mr. Antoine LÉAUMENT, Mr. Aurélien LE COQ, Mr. Jérôme LEGAVRE, Mrs. Sarah LEGRAIN, Mrs. Claire LEJEUNE, Mrs. Murielle LEPVRAUD, Mrs. Élisa MARTIN, Mr. Damien MAUDET, Mrs. Marianne MAXIMI, Mrs. Marie MESMEUR, Mrs. Manon MEUNIER, Mr. Jean-Philippe NILOR, Mrs. Sandrine NOSBÉ, Mrs. Danièle OBONO, Mrs. Nathalie OZIOL, Mr. René PILATO, Mr. François PIQUEMAL, Mr. Thomas PORTES, Mr. Loïc PRUD’HOMME, Mr. Jean Hugues RATENON, Mr. Arnaud SAINT-MARTIN, Mr. Aurélien SAINTOUL, Mrs. Ersilia SOUDAIS, Mrs. Anne STAMBACH-TERRENOIR, Mr. Aurélien TACHÉ, Mrs. Andrée TAURINYA, Mrs. Aurélie TROUVÉ, Mr. Paul VANNIER, deputies.
Like millions of French people, I was struck with disgust when I saw the bill from La France insoumise aimed at repealing the offense of condoning terrorism.
Bill aiming to repeal the offense of condoning terrorism from the penal code, no. 577, tabled on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.
Below, a screenshot displays a bill tabled by France Insoumise (LFI) on November 19. The text, drafted by the MP for the Nord department Ugo Bernalicis and his LFI colleagues, wants to abolish this offence created by a 2014 law
"Before 2014, before the law that put the condoning of terrorism into the Penal Code, it was in press law. And what we are denouncing is precisely that it is in the Penal Code and no longer in press law. So we are not repealing the offence of condoning terrorism, we are putting it back into press law," explained Mathilde Panot on BFM TV to defend the proposal of La France Insoumise (LFI) to repeal the offence of condoning terrorism.
The deputies of La France Insoumise have tabled a bill aimed at repealing the offense of condoning terrorism, on Tuesday, November 19, believing that the latter was used "against freedom of expression."
MP Ugo Bernalicis and the members of the La France Insoumise group tabled, on Tuesday 19 November, a bill aimed at "repealing the offence of condoning terrorism from the penal code".
Bruno Retailleau accused La France insoumise of wishing to "repeal the offence of condoning terrorism." A bill was indeed tabled to repeal this offence from the Penal Code. On the LCI set, Manuel Bompard explained that he wished to "bring back" this offence "into press law."
Le député La France insoumise (LFI) Ugo Bernalicis a déposé une proposition de loi visant à abroger le délit d’apologie du terrorisme du code pénal pour le remettre dans le droit de la presse, là où il figurait avant 2014.
La France insoumise (LFI) tabled a bill in the Assembly on Tuesday, November 19, aimed at repealing the offense of condoning terrorism, which, according to the left-wing movement, has accentuated "the instrumentalization of the fight against terrorism" against "freedom of expression", drawing sharp criticism from the right and the presidential camp.
LFI deputies have tabled a bill aimed at repealing this offence, which has been in the penal code since 2014.
The bill, by Mr. Ugo Bernalicis and his fellow deputies of La France insoumise-LFI, "aiming to repeal the offense of condoning terrorism from the Penal Code" deserves some clarifications here... Consequently, Article 1 of this bill provides that "Article 421-2-5 of the penal code is repealed", without in any way providing, contrary to what is claimed, for the reintegration of the specific offense of "condoning terrorism" into the law of July 29, 1881.
By tabling a bill aimed at repealing the offense of condoning terrorism, La France Insoumise indeed wishes to remove this offense from the law. On November 19, 2024, LFI MP Ugo Bernalicis tabled a bill in the National Assembly aimed at repealing the offense of condoning terrorism from the Penal Code.
By proposing to remove the offense of condoning terrorism from the Penal Code and to reintegrate the offense into press law, La France insoumise triggered a controversy at the end of 2024. ... it is not a question of whether the offense of condoning terrorism should be abolished, but whether we should reverse the changes made by the law of November 13, 2014, which transferred this offense into the Penal Code, which until then had been punished under the law of July 29, 1881 on freedom of the press.
Bill aiming to repeal the offense of condoning terrorism from the penal code, no. 577, tabled on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.
LFI is calling for the repeal of a 2014 law that moved the offense of condoning terrorism from press law to the penal code. The text, sponsored by the MP for the Nord department, Ugo Bernalicis, aims to "repeal the offense of condoning terrorism from the penal code."
The La France Insoumise (LFI) MP for the Nord department, Ugo Bernalicis, tabled a bill on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, aimed at repealing the offense of condoning terrorism from the Penal Code, which he claims has heightened the "instrumentalization of the fight against terrorism" against "freedom of expression."
La France insoumise (LFI) has tabled a bill in the Assembly aimed at repealing the offence of condoning terrorism, which according to LFI has accentuated "the instrumentalisation of the fight against terrorism" against "freedom of expression"
On Sunday, November 24, the leader of the La France Insoumise deputies, Mathilde Panot, declared that she wanted to "repeal" the offense of condoning terrorism "from the Penal Code."
By proposing to abolish the offense of condoning terrorism, France Insoumise has sparked a heated controversy in the political class, including on the left.
On November 19, 2024, France Insoumise (LFI) MP Ugo Bernalicis tabled bill no. 577 in the National Assembly, which in its first article aims to repeal the offense of condoning terrorism provided for in article 421-2-5 of the penal code. MP Ugo Bernalicis wishes, through bill no. 577, to repeal the offense of provocation and condoning terrorism from the penal code "in a desire to preserve freedom of expression", remarks taken up and supported by the president of the LFI group, Mathilde Panot, in an interview on November 24, 2024 on BFMTV.
With its bill aimed at repealing the offense of condoning terrorism in the Penal Code, France Insoumise once again finds itself isolated on the political spectrum.
"It so happens that before 2014, before the law that put condoning terrorism into the penal code, it was in press law. And what we are denouncing is precisely that it is in the penal code and no longer in press law. So we are not repealing the offence of condoning terrorism, we are putting it back into press law"
The bill "aiming to repeal the offense of condoning terrorism from the penal code" tabled by MP Ugo Bernalicis has sparked general disapproval, (media) noise and fury (from other political parties).
For this reason, LFI has proposed to remove the crime of “apology for terrorism” from the criminal code and return it to the 1881 press (criminal) law, with the intent of providing stronger safeguards for free expression.
By refusing to qualify Hamas as an Islamist terrorist organization, they have condoned terrorism.
For this reason, the far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI) has proposed to remove the crime of “apology for terrorism” from the criminal code and return it to the 1881 press (criminal) law, with the intent of providing stronger safeguards for free expression.
This operation, carried out within the framework of the Minister of Justice's circular on "apology for terrorism", whose legal vagueness is used to muzzle solidarity with Palestine, follows a complaint filed by the "Jeunesse Française Juive" association against two press releases from the UJFP recalling the colonial reality in Israel / Palestine and international law.
We learned today of the dismissal of the complaint against Mathilde Panot for "apology for terrorism", as well as the Article 40 action initiated by Gerald Darmanin against Danièle Obono for her remarks made on Sud Radio.
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Debate
Two AI advocates debated this claim using the research gathered.
Argument for
Official parliamentary records confirm that nearly all deputies of La France Insoumise formally tabled a bill in November 2024 explicitly aimed at repealing the offense of condoning terrorism from the penal code (Source 1, assemblee-nationale.fr; Source 2, senat.fr). Although party leaders argued this was merely an administrative transfer to press law, legal analysis demonstrates that their proposed legislation outright abolishes the criminal offense without actually providing for its reintegration elsewhere (Source 7, publicsenat.fr; Source 14, actu-juridique.fr).
The Proponent's own citation of Source 14 undercuts their case: by acknowledging the bill 'outright abolishes' the offense 'without actually providing for its reintegration elsewhere,' they concede the exact confusion the Opponent identified — LFI's leadership publicly disavowed 'repeal' as the substantive goal, per Sources 7, 10, and 25, meaning the party's stated position and its bill's actual text diverge, undermining any claim of coherent 'support' for repeal as commonly understood. This is a logical inconsistency the Proponent cannot resolve in their favor: either LFI supported repeal (contradicting their leaders' repeated denials) or LFI supported relocation (contradicting the bill's actual text), and the Proponent cannot invoke both simultaneously to prove the claim true.
Argument against
The claim as framed is a misleading oversimplification: LFI's official leaders, including Mathilde Panot and Manuel Bompard, explicitly denied 'repealing' the offense in substance, insisting instead they merely wanted to relocate the same conduct back into 1881 press law where it existed pre-2014 — Source 7, Source 10, and Source 25 all quote them saying 'we are not repealing the offence of condoning terrorism, we are putting it back into press law.' Crucially, Source 14 (actu-juridique.fr) demonstrates this defense was itself false or at best incomplete, since the actual bill text only repealed Article 421-2-5 without any provision reintegrating the offense into press law — meaning LFI never coherently or accurately 'supported repealing' the offense as a settled, honest legislative position, but rather advanced a confused and contested proposal that even legal analysts like Les Surligneurs (Source 15) and The Conversation (Source 16) had to painstakingly clarify was not what LFI itself claimed it was doing.
The Opponent's argument collapses under its own contradiction by conceding that the actual legislative text submitted by La France Insoumise explicitly repealed the penal offense without any provision to reintegrate it, as confirmed by Source 14 (actu-juridique.fr). By prioritizing political spin over concrete legislative action, the Opponent fails to recognize that formally tabling a bill titled "aimed at repealing the offense of condoning terrorism from the penal code" constitutes undeniable support for that exact repeal, as documented in Source 1 (assemblee-nationale.fr) and Source 3 (assemblee-nationale.fr).
Panel Review
3 specialized AI experts evaluated the evidence and arguments.
Reviewer 1 — The Logic Examiner
Sources 1, 3, and 5 directly document a bill signed by LFI deputies and expressly aimed at repealing the offence from the Penal Code, while Source 14 confirms that its operative provision repealed Article 421-2-5 without reinstating the offence elsewhere. Leaders' stated preference to move the offence into press law (Sources 7, 10, and 25) may explain their intended policy rationale but does not negate their formal support for legislation that repealed the existing criminal-law provision; the claim is therefore true.
Reviewer 2 — The Source Auditor
The most authoritative sources — the official Assemblée Nationale bill text (Sources 1, 3, 5, 17) and Sénat record (Source 2) — unambiguously show that nearly the entire LFI parliamentary group formally tabled legislation titled 'aimed at repealing the offense of condoning terrorism from the penal code,' and Source 14 (actu-juridique.fr) confirms the bill's actual legal text repeals Article 421-2-5 outright without providing for reintegration elsewhere, corroborated by widely-sourced, independent major outlets (Le Figaro, France Info, La Croix, TF1, France24, BFMTV, Le Monde) all describing the same action consistently. The claim is narrowly and precisely about support for 'repealing' the offense, which is factually and legally what LFI's bill does regardless of the party's political framing (via Panot/Bompard) that this was merely a relocation to press law — that spin, reported secondhand in Sources 7, 10, 25, does not change the documented legislative reality, so trustworthy primary sources confirm the claim is true.
Reviewer 3 — The Precision Analyst
The evidence confirms that deputies from La France Insoumise tabled a bill explicitly aimed at repealing the offense of condoning terrorism from the penal code (Sources 1, 3, 5). While party leaders argued their intent was to transfer the offense back to press law, the claim accurately specifies their support for repealing the 'criminal offence' (from the penal code), which matches the literal text and stated goal of their legislative proposal.
Panel summary
Official National Assembly records provide direct, authoritative evidence that LFI deputies introduced legislation expressly repealing Article 421-2-5 of the Penal Code, which establishes the offence of condoning terrorism. Independent legal analysis and major news organizations consistently corroborate that legislative action. LFI leaders said the conduct should instead be addressed under press law, but this policy rationale does not negate support for repealing the existing Penal Code offence. The claim accurately describes the documented position without asserting that LFI sought to legalize such expression entirely.