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Prosecutors in France have opened an investigation into the racist attack on Kylian Mbappé by a Paraguayan senator, with officials weighing whether to demand that the senator be charged with aggravated public insult or incitement to hatred or violence.
The Paris prosecutor’s office told the Guardian on Tuesday it had launched the inquiry after the French Football Federation (FFF) filed a complaint with the national unit for combating online hate.
After Paraguay’s bruising loss to France at the World Cup on Saturday, Celeste Amarilla, a senator from Paraguay’s Liberal Radical party, posted a torrent of racial abuse against Mbappé on social media.
In remarks described by the FFF as “utterly abhorrent and unacceptable”, Amarilla mocked the France captain, whose penalty sent France into the quarter-finals.
Amarilla described Mbappé as a “colonised Cameroonian, desperately trying to pass himself off as French” and as a “brute who had not learned to write”. Paraguay’s players should have slapped him after the match, she added.
Mbappé responded soon after. “Madame Celeste Amarilla, you are a despicable woman and unworthy of your position. You do not represent Paraguay, that country which has sweated passion and honour throughout the competition,” he wrote on social media.
Her tirade was a distraction from the tremendous accomplishment of Paraguay at the World Cup, he added. “Through your recklessness and your brazen racism, the entire world has already forgotten the journey and the historic effort that your players accomplished during this World Cup, making way for an incompetent woman who gives the worst possible image of her country.”
In a statement on Tuesday, the Paris prosecutor’s office noted “the remarks were allegedly made because of the victim’s actual or perceived origin, ethnicity, nationality, race, or religion”. The offences were punishable by up to one year of imprisonment and a €۴۵,۰۰۰ ($۵۱,۰۰۰) fine, it added.
As her racist attack made headlines around the world, Amarilla posted an open letter in French and Spanish to Mbappé on social media. She sought to lay blame with Mbappé for her remarks, citing her anger at his behaviour during the match and comments about France ditching their “tuxedos” to play “dirty football” against Paraguay.
She said she regretted mistreating Mbappé with “the same insults” she had received as a mixed-race person and said she had deleted her post.
But she used nearly half of the letter to criticise Mbappé’s response, demanding an apology from the player, accusing him of gender-based violence in how he had spoken about her and threatening legal action if he did not retract his comments. “Who are you to call me indignant or despicable when you don’t even know me?” she asked.
The government of Paraguay sought to distance itself from her remarks, describing them as “contrary to the values and principles that inspire peaceful coexistence and respect for human dignity that our country promotes”. The senator’s comments “in no way” represented the position of the Paraguayan government or the Paraguayan people, it added.
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, was among the many who voiced support for the captain. “Another goal for Kylian Mbappé. Against racism this time,” he said on social media. “All my support. When words smear, our values respond: dignity, respect, fraternity.”
Macron’s office said the president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, had written to him to express support and condemn the remarks.
France’s assistant coach, Guy Stephan, told reporters he had yet to speak with Mbappé about the racist abuse. However, he was unequivocal in his condemnation of the senator’s attack: “In three words: it’s disgraceful, vile, outrageous.”
