The initiator of the keyword #balancetonporc, convicted of defamation at first instance, is on appeal Wednesday in Paris on a complaint from a man she had accused by name of sexual harassment in October 2017, in the midst of the liberation wave of the word of women.
Read also: Sandra Muller, the creator of #balancetonporc, convicted of defamation
More than three years after the shock wave that followed the implication of the American producer Harvey Weinstein, the court of appeal is re-examining this case, which resulted in Sandra Muller being ordered on September 26, 2019 to pay 15,000 euros damages to Eric Brion.
On October 13, 2017, the journalist posted on Twitter the words: “
#balancetonporc !!
you also tell by giving the name and the details a sexual harassment that you knew in your job.
I am waiting for you
”.
Four hours later, she had written: “
You have big breasts.
You are my type of woman.
I'll make you cum all night long Eric Brion ex-boss of Equidia #balancetonporc
”.
Thousands of women then took the floor to denounce harassment or sexual assault under this hashtag or its equivalent in English #Metoo (#MoiAussi) launched by actress Alyssa Milano.
Consultant and former managing director of the Equidia television channel, Eric Brion had sued Sandra Muller for defamation.
He had agreed to have had inappropriate words during a Cannes evening in 2012, he had apologized by text the next day, but defended himself from being a "
sexual harasser
".
In its judgment, the court emphasized that the issue of "
violence, in all its forms inflicted on women by men, is clearly a subject of general interest
".
But he felt that Sandra Muller had made defamatory remarks, in the absence, according to him, of the "
repetition
" or "
serious pressure
" necessary to constitute the offense of sexual harassment.
The judges added that Sandra Muller had not provided "
sufficient factual basis
" or proof of the truth of her accusations.
The journalist, who is one of the “
breakers of silence
” designated by Time magazine as “
Personalities of the Year
” 2017, immediately appealed against her conviction, her lawyers denouncing a decision “
out of time
”.
For this second trial Wednesday afternoon, Eric Brion will be present but not Sandra Muller, retained in the United States by the health crisis.
"
Eric Brion is still branded with a
hot
iron by this infamous accusation and intends to obtain confirmation of the judgment to find a calm life
," said his lawyer Nicolas Bénoit.
Jade Dousselin, one of Sandra Muller's counsel, will ask the court to dismiss Eric Brion after a first “
incomprehensible
”
decision
, stressing in particular that his client had written “
what she heard
”.
