French streamers receive suspended sentences after live-streamed abuse of Raphael Graven

Two French livestreamers were handed suspended jail terms for assaulting 46-year-old Raphael Graven during a broadcast, though they were not charged with causing his death.

In a Nice courtroom, Safine Hamadi and Owen Cenazandotti were found guilty of inflicting violence and inciting hatred against 46-year-old Raphael Graven, who streamed under the name Jean Pormanove. The abuse, which was broadcast on the streaming service Kick, was described by the defendants as partly staged and consensual, though the court noted that some content could not be consented to. Hamadi received an 18-month suspended sentence and a €5,000 fine, while Cenazandotti was sentenced to two years suspended and fined €15,000; both were prohibited from posting on social networks for six months.

Prosecutors did not charge the pair with manslaughter, attributing Graven's death to his fragile heart and overall poor health. The incident prompted calls for tighter regulation of fringe platforms, leading to investigations by the audiovisual regulator Arcom and the Paris prosecutor's office into Kick, which now faces a formal probe and arrest warrants for some of its officers.