Watching one's back: French bloggers arrested for "inciting riots"

From Apostate Windbag:

Meanwhile, elsewhere internautical, three French bloggers have been arrested for allegedly 'inciting violence' by using their blogs to encourage people to join the riots, justice minister Pascal Clement told a media conference yesterday. The bloggers, all aged 16 and from Aix-en-Provence in the south, 'called for riots and an attack on police stations'. Their blogs were hosted by a site owned by a youth radio station, Skyrock, which has since shut them down.

From Sketchy Thoughts, which Apostate links to:

Two of the three suspects, a French and a Ghanaian teenager aged 16 and 18, appeared before a judge in criminal court, charged with “using the internet to voluntarily provoking a dangerous degradation for people.”

The court has requested that they be held in temporary custody, a question that a release judge should rule on Tuesday night. They were arrested Monday at Noisy-le-Sec and Bondy (Seine-Saint-Denis).

It is the first time charges have been laid in Paris regarding this crime, which is covered in the legislation regarding the press. Possible sentences range up to five years in prison.

The third suspect, a 14 year old, was picked up in Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), and was released after his court appearance. He is not being prosecuted at the moment, due to a procedural error...

These blogs, which were called "Nike la France" [“Kill France”] and "Nique l'Etat" [“Kill the State”] as well as "Sarkodead" and "Hardcore", encouraged people to participate in the violence in the suburbs and to attack police officers...

An investigation has been launched to determine who the accused may be connected to and to determine whether or not their activities were part of an organized operation to spread the riots.

Sketchy Thoughts has been translating accounts of the riots and related materials into English. Worth a look.