French streamers get suspended sentences and digital ban over violence preceding livestreamed death of Raphaël Graven

The verdict

The Nice criminal court on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, convicted two French streamers of violence and humiliation inflicted on Raphaël Graven, known online as Jean Pormanove, and on Stéphane G., alias Coudoux, a man under guardianship, over thousands of hours of livestreams broadcast between 2023 and 2025 on Twitch and then Kick. Owen Cenazandotti, alias Naruto, 27, received a two-year suspended prison sentence and a €15,000 fine. Safine Hamadi, alias Safine, 24, received an 18-month suspended sentence and a €5,000 fine. Both were also given a six-month "digital ban" prohibiting them from posting on online platforms.

The trial, held in early July in Nice, did not address Graven's death. The 46-year-old streamer died in his sleep during a long livestream in the summer of 2025, and the investigation into that aspect was closed in February after an autopsy attributed the death to poor health and a fragile heart. The court acquitted the pair of abusing Pormanove's psychological frailty, as he had told police before his death that he had consented to the stunts.

The violence

Images shown or described during the trial depicted Pormanove and Coudoux receiving slaps, kicks, whip blows, baseball bat strikes, and screaming in their ears. Prosecutor Maud Marty had requested 30 months of prison including one year under house arrest with an electronic bracelet for Naruto, and 18 months of suspended probation for Safine, along with fines and a lifetime digital ban for both.

A system of human mistreatment, not a slip-up or a provocation. The violence is the programme, it makes the scenario.

Naruto's lawyer, Fabien Carles, said the sentence was "largely below the prosecution's requests" but still too heavy.

These people were entertainers who sometimes went too far, but judging them as criminals is strongly exaggerated.

Coudoux, the other victim, refused to consider himself one.

We were a bunch of mates, it was just our thing.

Hamadi's lawyer, Tom Michel, struck a different tone.

The conviction is mainly symbolic. We are satisfied with the ruling. My client acknowledged responsibility and that part of the content they aired was not acceptable and could not be consented to or scripted.

The platform and its reach

The channel averaged 20,000 viewers per livestream each evening from 9 p.m. to midnight, making it the most-watched Kick channel in France. Influencers, singers, and footballers participated, and its protagonists earned up to €6,000 per month. Prosecutors said Pormanove had netted about €265,000 from his streams between 2021 and 2025. Kick, the Australia-based streaming platform, is under formal investigation in the case, and an arrest warrant has been issued for some of its officers. The audiovisual and digital regulator Arcom and the Paris prosecutor's office opened separate investigations into Kick.

The digital ban

The six-month digital ban stems from Article 16 of the SREN law (Sécuriser et réguler l'espace numérique), in effect since 2024. It requires total silence on social media platforms including X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Kick, and Twitch, as well as services like Airbnb, Leboncoin, and Blablacar. Even indirect presence, such as appearing through another person's stream, is prohibited. Platforms that fail to enforce the ban face a €75,000 fine. The maximum duration is six months, extendable to one year in case of legal recidivism.