Michel Houellebecq indicted for remarks

Michel Houellebecq was indicted on Tuesday November 10, 2026 by an investigating judge in Nanterre for complicity in provoking discrimination, hatred or violence. The procedure concerns comments made by the writer during an interview with Michel Onfray, published in November 2022 in the journal Popular front. The Union of Mosques of France (UMF), which had filed a complaint and became a civil party, welcomes this decision. It indicates in its press release that the director of the magazine was also indicted.

At the heart of the complaint is a passage in which Michel Houellebecq refers to attacks and shootings in mosques or other places frequented by Muslims as possible “acts of resistance”. The UMF compares these words to other statements in the interview where, according to it, the writer collectively equates Muslims with thieves and aggressors and presents their departure from France as a “good solution”. For the association, these comments directly target people because of their religious affiliation.

The UMF also mentions the Trappes attack. She notes that the conspiracy theory of the “great replacement”, presented as a fact by the writer in the interview, was also, according to her, among the beliefs of the author of the attack. The association warns of the consequences that, in a context of anti-Muslim violence, speeches that present an entire population as a threat can have.

In his book A few months in my lifeMichel Houellebecq went back on his statements and reported having asked those responsible for the magazine to stop distributing the issue, recalls the UMF. Almost four years after its publication, the special issue remains accessible, she says. Through its legal action, the association intends both to obtain a sanction for the comments denounced and to “stop the distribution of the offending special issue”.