Algerian State's Complaint Against Sarah Knafo Dismissed

04 October 2024 / Interviews

The Paris prosecutor's office announced on Thursday, October 3, the dismissal of the complaint filed by the Algerian state against Sarah Knafo, a European deputy from the Reconquête! party. Algiers criticized the elected official for her statements on RMC radio, where she stated that France paid 800 million euros in development aid to Algeria each year. These comments, made on September 20, were then relayed on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

The complaint, filed for "spreading false news," was deemed inadmissible by the prosecutor's office. The latter specified that the information put forward by Sarah Knafo was more "imprecise" than "deliberately false." Indeed, according to the French government, development aid paid to Algeria between 2018 and 2022 amounted to approximately 588 million euros, or an annual average of 111 to 131 million, well below the 800 million mentioned by Knafo.

The prosecution also recalled that the offence of "spreading false news" requires not only proof of the deliberate falsity of the information, but also a direct link to a disturbance of public order. However, in this case, the MEP's remarks, broadcast in the context of a public debate on development aid, clearly did not cause any disorder or panic.

In response to this decision, Sarah Knafo reacted with irony on X: "With all the money we give them, they could have paid for a lawyer!"

This affair comes at a time when debates on official development aid and the management of the national budget are in full swing in France, as the examination of the Finance Law approaches.