Two influencers have been convicted after the death of a French streamer who died while livestreaming an extreme challenge. Raphael Graven, 46, also known as Jean Pormanove, was found unconscious by co-streamers in a village near Nice in August last year.
His livestream on the Kick platform had been running for more than 298 hours. Safine Hamadi and Owen Cenazandotti have been convicted of aggravated violence following his death, after an investigation found he was regularly subjected to humiliation and abuse in his content.
Sentences handed down
A Nice court handed down suspended prison sentences to the pair, who claimed the abuse took place with Graven's consent. Hamadi was given an 18-month suspended sentence, while Cenazandotti received a two-year suspended sentence. They were also fined €5,000 and €15,000 respectively and banned from posting online for six months.
Neither man was charged with manslaughter, as the prosecution said probable causes of death appeared related to his poor health and fragile heart. They were also acquitted of abusing Graven's psychological frailty, with the influencer previously telling police he had consented to the extreme challenges.
Investigation details
Damien Martinelli, the prosecutor in Nice, said the autopsy showed the death was not caused by trauma and was "not related" to the intervention of any third party. The investigation looked into "deliberate violence against vulnerable persons" and "spreading recordings of images related to offenses involving deliberate violations of physical integrity," according to Martinelli's statement.
French investigative website Mediapart claimed co-streamers mistreated Pormanove in live broadcasts, sometimes encouraged by viewer payments to generate more subscriptions and money. Kick, the streaming platform, remains part of an investigation by French authorities, but told the New York Times it was not involved in the proceedings against Hamadi and Cenazandotti, adding: "The ruling relates solely to two individual content creators."
