Death of Quentin Deranque: MP Raphaël Arnault was questioned for “relatively minor” facts, according to his lawyer

LFI deputy Raphaël Arnault was questioned at the end of October for “relatively minor facts” as part of the investigation into the death in February in Lyon of Quentin Deranque, a 23-year-old young man close to far-right identity circles, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

During a press conference in Paris, Me Chirinne Ardakani confirmed that Raphaël Arnault had been given a free hearing in the premises of the anti-terrorist sub-directorate (SDAT) on October 29 in the context of this case. However, she disputed that he was there as a witness.

“Without any direct or even indirect connection with the commission of the facts”

“The facts for which he was questioned were relatively minor facts, the details of which I will not give since they are covered by the secrecy of the investigation,” she added. Raphaël Arnault was interviewed “without any direct or even indirect connection with the commission of acts of violence in the context of this affair”, she clarified. The hearing “did not relate to participation (...) in preparatory acts with a view to committing violence” or “a criminal association”, she assured.

“Everything that is said in this sense is pure defamation in the interest, obviously, of harming Mr. Arnault, and in the direct line of what I call a cabal today which is organized by his long-standing political adversaries, namely, first and foremost, the identity movements, the neo-Nazi movements, who are constantly waging a campaign on social networks, but also via their affiliated media,” underlined Me Ardakani.

A “judicial offensive” targeting Raphaël Arnault, according to his lawyer

The lawyer announced a “judicial offensive” to denounce violations of investigative secrecy, defamation attacks and death threats targeting her client. Two complaints were filed Tuesday morning and a third was to be filed Tuesday afternoon. “Anyone who attributes any responsibility, that is to say moral, political or criminal, to Mr. Arnault in the commission of acts of violence in connection with the case will be systematically targeted by a complaint from us,” warned Mr. Ardakani.

She denounced named accusations making a “fallacious” link between Raphaël Arnault and the commission of violence, emanating in particular from Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, the Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin and the Minister of the Interior Laurent Nuñez, while the latter are “direct hierarchical authorities in the context of a criminal procedure”.

Acts of intimidation targeting Mr. Arnault “hinder” his parliamentary mandate and disrupt “his travels”, particularly around the signing of his book “Antifascist”, underlined the lawyer. She also claimed to be a victim of intimidation herself, notably reporting “extreme right activists” having waited for her outside her office building.

Quentin Deranque died after being violently hit on the ground by several hooded people. The blows were dealt to him after a fight between ultra-left activists and young people who had come to ensure the security of activists from the feminist collective Némésis, marked very right-wing and reputed to be close to identity circles, on the sidelines of a conference by LFI MEP Rima Hassan.

Raphaël Arnault is the co-founder of the anti-fascist movement the Young Guard, now dissolved, some members of which are suspected of being involved in the death of Quentin Deranque. Fourteen people have been indicted for murder or complicity in this affair. Among them, Adrian Besseyre, 25, who worked in the team of MP Raphaël Arnault until a few days before the facts, and Jacques-Elie Favrot, 25, parliamentary assistant to the MP at the time of the crime.