The Versailles Court of Appeal confirmed, Tuesday, September 28, the conviction for “moral harassment” of youtubeur Habannou S., alias Marvel Fitness, accused of repeatedly attacking influencers around the world on social networks sports and bodybuilding.
Sentenced at first instance to two years in prison with a one-year suspended sentence, Marvel Fitness had already carried out two months of detention, before being released at the request of his counsel. The court of appeal finally sentenced him to two months in prison (already served) and twenty-two months of probation. He is also prohibited from contacting the civil parties. “What mattered above all was that he didn’t do it again”, explained Tuesday the president of the court of appeal during the reading of the deliberation, defending a sentence “Educational and balanced”.
Habannou S., now active on YouTube on the Marvel Fitness is back channel, is a 32-year-old Parisian passionate about sport and bodybuilding who made himself known in particular by mocking other sports influencers, and by posting, for example, videos where he sought to determine if a particular athlete was taking supplements to gain muscle mass.
Change of defense on appeal
It became customary, thereafter, to “clashes” with other influencers, what he often called “dramas”, but which, for many people, went too far. Nine people then filed a complaint, denouncing repeated attacks, insults and threats, both on social networks and on YouTube, and pointing the finger at the important role of the “community” of Marvel Fitness, its fans, who could send messages hateful en masse. These were encouraged to do so, estimated the victims, by Habannou S.
Before the Versailles Court of Appeal, on June 15, the man defended himself for wanting to harm the civil parties, explaining that his videos had satirical aims, or having made outrageous remarks only to defend himself in the face of what he describes as attacks.
His lawyer – who changed after the trial at first instance – Juan Branco, had denounced on appeal a “Playground conflict that should not have been brought to justice”. He had also accused the civil parties of using documents with words truncated or taken out of context.
Opposite, some civil parties had repeated the ordeal they felt they had suffered because of Marvel Fitness. ” Several times he threatened to destroy me ”, had notably testified Aline Dessine, Belgian influencer.
www.lemonde.fr