Influencer Sentenced to 6 Months of Jail Time for Viral Syringe Injection 'Pranks' By Luke Chinman

Amine Mojito, a 27-year-old French internet personality known online as Ilan M, was sentenced to six months of jail time and a fine by the Paris Criminal Court for “violence with a weapon that did not result in incapacity for work,” reported French newspaper Libération. 

According to the outlet and several videos circulating on social media, Mojito tricked pedestrians by pretending to inject them with a syringe in a series of viral videos.

Per Libération, the prosecution accused Mojito of encouraging — whether intentionally or not — a broader trend of injections at parties and music festivals. The newspaper reported in June that dozens of women in France had claimed they had been injected with foreign substances in public against their will.

In court, Mojito claimed he did not know about the broader trend, claiming in French that he had been “in his own world” and “didn’t know anything,” according to Libération.

“I had the very bad idea of ​​doing these pranks by imitating what I saw on the Internet, in Spain, in Portugal,” he said in court, per Libération. “I didn’t think it could hurt people. That was my mistake, I didn’t think about others, I thought about myself.”

On Instagram, Mojito has over 131,000 followers, though he hasn’t posted to his account since he was arrested on June 26. His TikTok page appears to have been deactivated.

Libération reported that the prosecution initially requested 15 months of jail time for Mojito, though he was only sentenced to 12 months, six of which were later suspended.

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Speaking to the outlet, Mojito’s lawyer Marie Claret de Fleurieu said that the decision “brings the debates back into more proportion after the initial media frenzy” and “restores a little balance between the preservation of public order and that of the fundamental rights of [her] client.”