Racist anonymous letters: Same sender targets journalists and officials in France
A magistrate at Arcom filed a complaint after receiving an abusive letter at her home. Radio France's investigation unit has established striking similarities with other hateful letters sent to journalists and officials.
Same sender behind hateful letters targeting journalists and public officials
Laurence Pecaut-Rivolier, member of Arcom's board and adviser to the Court of Cassation, discovered at the beginning of August, upon returning from holiday, a letter written in capital letters in black pen on white paper. "I experienced it as an intrusion into my privacy, rather like a burglary," she said. The letter, just a few lines long, contained insults directed personally at her — "Do your job well as a whore for Macron" — and described Arcom, the audiovisual regulator, as a "bunch of parasites of the Republic."
The magistrate highlighted the difference between insults received in a professional context and those that occur at home: "When you discover something like that by surprise, at home, outside the workplace, it's different, it's a real attack: you're not prepared." She questioned the sender's motivation: "Who could have enough violence, enough hatred to seek out an address, put it in an envelope with a stamp addressed to a person they don't know?"
On Wednesday 2 September, Laurence Pecaut-Rivolier and Arcom, which offered her its support, filed two complaints for insults at a Paris police station.
Striking similarities over several years
According to cross-referencing work by Radio France's investigation unit, the letter received by the magistrate presents numerous points in common with other letters sent in recent years to journalists and political officials, often at their personal addresses: similar handwriting, black pen, identical capital letters. Several of these letters were moreover reportedly sent from the same post office.
In June 2024, Karim Rissouli, a journalist at France Télévisions, posted the letter he had received at his home on Instagram, in order, he explained, "to denounce the racist speech that was being unleashed at that time". The text contained remarks of a racist nature and a threatening phrase: "You will never own France."
Nassira El Moaddem, journalist at Arrêt sur Images, for her part reported in June 2024, in a post on her X account, striking similarities with a letter she had received: "Same individual, same hatred." She now wishes to join the magistrate's complaint. At the same time, Sonia Devillers, a journalist at France Inter, also received a letter at her home presenting strikingly similar characteristics, after having broadcast an interview with Marion Maréchal.
Officials also targeted across several regions
Radio France's investigation unit has furthermore identified other journalists who received comparable letters, as well as political officials in several regions. Among them are municipal councillors and LFI MP for Seine-Saint-Denis Aly Diouara, who had publicly denounced in 2025 the receipt of "a racist letter deposited at his home" and announced that he had filed a complaint.
Radio France - Justice, which is reporting this matter, indicates that all these elements suggest the existence of a single sender, acting over a period of time and targeting public figures from different backgrounds — media regulation, press and political representation. Investigators now have several complaints at their disposal to establish possible links between these mailings.
Source: Radio France - Justice