French influencer Amine Mojito has been sentenced to prison after staging fake syringe attacks on strangers for a viral prank video.
According to Libération, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced 27-year-old Ilan M., known online as Amine Mojito, to 12 months in prison, with six months suspended. The incident occurred in June, just before France’s Fête de la Musique celebration, when Mojito filmed himself pretending to inject random people with a syringe on the streets — sparking outrage and fear online.
He was convicted of “violence with a weapon not resulting in incapacity to work.” During his hearing, Mojito claimed he was “in his own world” and unaware of the social impact of his actions. He said his intention was merely to revive his online career and promote a fitness program, admitting, “I didn’t think about others, I thought about myself.”
Prosecutors had pushed for a 15-month sentence with electronic monitoring, noting that his videos fueled public panic amid reports of real syringe attacks at festivals. While few such incidents were confirmed, the court ruled that Mojito’s content contributed to a “climate of fear.”
In addition to jail time, Mojito was fined €1,500 (about $1,760) and banned from owning or carrying weapons for three years. His lawyer, Marie Claret de Fleurieu, called the ruling a fair balance between public order and her client’s rights, saying it helped “restore perspective after the initial media frenzy.”
Mojito had already spent nearly two months in pre-trial detention, much of it in isolation at Fleury-Mérogis Prison.
