Council of State
9 January 2014
Facts
An order from the prefect banned the show of a stand-up comedian, Mr. Dieudonné, because it was considered to be violating human dignity and risking causing disturbance. Mr. Dieudonné applied to the administrative judge to suspend the execution of this order. The judge granted his request, by saying that the show could not be considered as having the essential purpose of causing an affront to human dignity and that the risk of disturbance could not justify a total ban.
Complaint
The Home Secretary appealed to the Council of State against the decision of the administrative judge.
Court’s ruling
The Council of State accepted the Home Secretary’s request and confirmed the ban of the show. It held that the show had been banned on the grounds that it contained anti-Semitic statements that incited racial hatred and, in disregard of human dignity, glorified the discrimination, persecutions and extermination perpetrated during the Second World War. Also, the reactions to the planned show, in a climate of high tension, indicated a serious risk of public disorder that would be very difficult for the police to control. In these circumstances, the Council of State considered that, on the basis of the risks that the show represented for public order, the prefect had not committed a serious and illegal fault in the exercise of his administrative police powers.