French prosecutors announced on Wednesday that they had launched an investigation into the alleged cyberbullying of Algerian Olympic boxing champion, Imane Khelif, who was at the centre of a gender controversy at the Paris Olympics.

The case was filed ‘against X’ (contre X) – which is an option within French criminal law for the victim to assert their rights and file a complaint even when the identity of the perpetrator is not known.

However, the lawyer representing Khelif, Nabil Boudi, told Variety magazine that high-profile foreign figures such as British author JK Rowling and US-based Twitter owner Elon Musk were named in the complaint, adding that American presidential candidate Donald Trump could also be included.

The Paris Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that it has launched the investigation – via the Central Office for the Fight Against Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes – for “cyber harassment due to gender, public insult because of gender, public incitement to discrimination and public insult because of origin”.

French law considers cyberbullying to be an offence punishable by a fine and up to 10 years of imprisonment.

But do French courts have jurisdiction over foreigners?

While French authorities naturally investigate and prosecute crimes that happen in France – whether committed by French people or foreigners – the courts also have quite wide-ranging powers to investigate events that happen outside France.

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French criminal jurisdiction is outlined in the French penal code (Articles 113-6 to Articles 113-14) and the basic principle, as explained by the French government’s Vie Publique website, is that “French courts have jurisdiction over crimes committed in France and, under certain conditions, crimes committed abroad, particularly when the perpetrator is French or the victim is French.”

This means that French courts can investigate if, for example, a French citizen is murdered abroad, or if a French citizen commits a crime outside France.

And it’s not just that they can – they often do.

One of the most high-profile – and complicated – recent examples is that of Frenchwoman Sophie Toscan du Plantier, who was murdered in Ireland in 1996.

After an inconclusive investigation by Irish authorities, the French courts took up the case on the basis that they could have jurisdiction thanks to the victim being a French national.

They charged a British man, resident in Ireland, named Ian Bailey with the murder, and held a trial in France. Bailey did not attend but was convicted in his absence and sentenced to 25 years in prison. However Irish courts refused to extradite him and Bailey died in Ireland earlier this year, still protesting his innocence. 

However, French courts cannot get involved if a person has already stood trial and been found not guilty in another country.

France will also prosecute its own citizens for crimes committed abroad where necessary, and has a policy of trying to get French jihadis who have left the country returned to France, and then prosecuting them.

What if no one involved is French and the crime happened outside France?

There are also some situations where French courts might have jurisdiction over crimes committed abroad by a foreign person and against a foreign victim, which would fall under the concept of ‘universal’ jurisdiction (compétence universelle).

French penal code (Articles 689 to 689-13) does outline the situations when France can exercise universal jurisdiction, and it is quite rare and restrictive and would usually apply only to the most serious crimes such as genocide or crimes against humanity – and priority is given to the International Criminal Court.

In the case of genocide and crimes against humanity, the accused would need to ‘habitually reside in France’ to be tried here, while someone accused of enforced disappearances would simply need to be present in France to be tried here, according to Amnesty International.

For example in 2023 French courts began proceedings over the 1994 Rwanda genocide against a former top Rwandan regional official who had been living in Le Havre.

France has in fact brought several legal cases over the Rwandan genocide, mostly involving people who had dual French-Rwandan nationality.

What about crimes committed online?

This is where we get to a grey area as it’s hard to define ‘where’ crimes are committed when it comes to online offences such as cyber-bullying.

In the case of Imane Khelif neither the complainant is French (Khelif is Algerian) and nor are the high-profile figures that her lawyer mentioned as being cited in the criminal complaint.

If the case involved a physical assault being committed in France – for example a British tourist being punched by a Swiss tourist – then France would have jurisdiction.

Even though Khelif was in Paris when the alleged cyberbullying took place, those mentioned by her lawyer as being cited in the criminal case were not.

Her lawyer told Variety that the complaint “could target personalities overseas” and that “the prosecutor’s office for combating online hate speech has the possibility to make requests for mutual legal assistance with other countries.”

Variety wrote that he specified “there were agreements with the US equivalent of the French office for combating online hate speech.” 

This implies that other countries would need to work alongside French authorities to investigate potential offences committed on their soil or by their citizens.

How do penalties work?

If a crime is investigated and the courts find someone guilty, French courts can then request the extradition of the perpetrator. Once in France, they may be subject to jail time, depending on the offence.

Extradition can be refused by the other country. However, the person convicted would not be able to enter French territory without risking arrest.