Ten people linked to extreme-right group Les Natifs (The Natives) have been fined for aggravated public insult against French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura. The Paris criminal court rejected the prosecution’s request for convictions on the more serious charge of incitement to hatred.
Thirteen defendants went on trial in June on charges of publicly inciting racial hatred against Nakamura after they unveiled a banner on the banks of the Seine in March 2024 that read: "No way Aya, this is Paris, not the Bamako market" – a reference to Mali's capital, where the singer was born.
The stunt followed rumours Nakamura would take part in the Paris Games opening ceremony, which she did.
The group posted the image on social media platform X, where it was viewed nearly 4.5 million times.
Of the 13 defendants, only three attended the trial, and just two were present in court on Wednesday when the verdict was delivered.
The court imposed fines rather than prison sentences: two defendants were fined €3,000, one €3,000 with €1,000 suspended, four €3,000 with €2,000 suspended, and three €2,000 suspended. Three others were acquitted.
Thirteen on trial over 'racist' stunt targeting French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura
'Recognition of guilt'
The sentences were far lighter than those sought by the prosecution, which had requested up to four months in prison for the defendants, aged between 20 and 31.
The court reclassified the offence, ruling that the case did not amount to incitement to hatred on the grounds of origin, ethnicity, nationality, race or religion, as the prosecution had argued, but to aggravated public insult of a racist nature – a less serious offence.
The fact the defendants had no previous convictions and no violence was used weighed in the balance.
During the trial, the activists described the proceedings as “a political trial”. In a statement, they argued that Nakamura’s music “in no way reflects the identity of our country” and accused the state of attempting to silence dissent.
Both the singer and anti-discrimination NGOs filed complaints with the Paris prosecutor's office over the incident, which was investigated by France's anti-hate crime division.
The defendants were ordered to pay €300 in damages to Nakamura and the other plaintiffs, including anti-racism organisations SOS Racisme and Licra.
Dominique Sopo, president of SOS Racisme, welcomed the verdict as “a recognition of guilt”, despite the lighter penalties.
Court allows controversial ultra-nationalist rally in Paris
Repeated stunts
None of the defendants spoke after the judgment was handed down.
Les Natifs subscribe to the far-right, white nationalist "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory, according to which white Europeans are being deliberately supplanted by non-white immigrants.
They are seen as the successors to Génération identitaire – an extreme-right group dissolved in 2021.
In March, Les Natifs covered portraits of veiled women, displayed in a church in the working-class suburb of Saint-Denis, with black sheets. A month earlier, they plastered an Air Algeria office with posters reading "Re-migrate ‘light’ from France to Algeria, for a one-way ticket with no return".
Aya Nakamura: the unstoppable queen of streaming
Nakamura is the most listened-to Francophone artist in the world, with more than 6 billion streams of her songs and more than nine million monthly listeners on Spotify. But her mix of French with Arabic and Malian slang, along with her sexy look, has been criticised by conservative and far-right groups and politicians.
Ahead of her performance at the Paris Games, Marine Le Pen, figurehead of the far-right National Rally, suggested the singer’s participation would "humiliate" France. She also took aim at what she called the singer's "vulgarity" and "the fact that she doesn't sing in French".
