The magazine
L'Obs
, sued for defamation by Marine Le Pen, was released on appeal on Wednesday for an article from 2014 on the so-called “
Jeanne
”
affair
, on suspicion of overbilling of campaign costs for the far-right party.
Read also: Marine Le Pen condemns
L'Obs
At the end of a long procedure, the Paris Court of Appeal reversed the judgment of the court, which in June 2016 had condemned the weekly to 500 euros suspended and 2,000 euros in damages. The court of appeal then acquitted the magazine for the first time in 2017 but the Court of Cassation quashed this decision, sending the case back for a third trial.
The lawyer for
L'Obs,
Me Didier Leick, said he was not yet aware of the details of the motivations, but he welcomed this decision, "
which preserves freedom of expression and devotes investigative journalism
" .
At first instance,
L'Obs
had been convicted for having attributed personal enrichment to the president of the National Rally (FN at the time), in a case which actually concerned the party.
"Marine Le Pen's hidden hoard"
Entitled "
The hidden hoard of Marine Le Pen
", the article published on December 11, 2014 wrote in particular: "
justice wonders if the president of the National Front is not the beneficiary of a system designed to embezzle money public
”.
The debate focused in particular on whether Marine Le Pen was implicated as party president or as a private person.
The article dated from the first suspicions of the so-called "
campaign kits
" case, entrusted to investigating judges in 2014, in which the FN and its entourage are suspected of having financed their electoral campaigns between 2012 and 2015 thanks to possible fraud to the detriment of the State, which reimburses these expenses.
To read also: The party of Marine Le Pen garners the rallies on the right
During the investigation, Marine Le Pen was never indicted, but placed under the status of assisted witness and she was not referred to justice.
On the other hand, the party, as well as several senior officials or relatives, were tried at the end of 2019. In June 2020, the court acquitted the party of the charges of fraud, condemning it only in a sub-aspect of this case.
The prosecution has appealed, which should lead to a new trial, the date of which is not yet known.
