The elected members of the National Gathering Gilbert Collard and Wallerand de Saint-Just were convicted Tuesday, October 19 for defamation against the boss of Iliad and billionaire Xavier Niel, for having wrongly relayed that the boss of Free had been convicted of aggravated pimping.
Read alsoHow Xavier Niel keeps climbing at Unibail
During the last presidential campaign, in March 2017, Gilbert Collard, then deputy of Gard, had affirmed on France Bleu that the main adversary of Marine Le Pen was "
BFM-Macron
", "
all the press organs which are in the hands
“Big bosses, citing Xavier Niel as an example.
And then launching, wrongly, that the latter had been convicted of aggravated pimping.
Sentenced to pay 1000 euros in damages each
The current RN MEP then published the extracts on his social networks and website.
Wallerand de Saint-Just, regional councilor for Ile-de-France, had done the same on the site of the party of which he was the co-director.
Read alsoAt the National Rally, turmoil around the "bunkerization" of Marine Le Pen
The 17th chamber of the Paris Criminal Court ordered them to each pay 1,000 euros in damages to Niel.
Collard is sentenced to a fine of 800 euros, Wallerand de Saint-Just to a suspended fine of 500 euros.
The court ruled that the incriminated comments were false, defamatory and undermined Niel's honor, and that Collard had shown no weighting.
Me Jean-Marc Descoubès, lawyer Collard, who will appeal, reacted by saying: "
The sentences are not very high but we consider that the court should have accepted the excuse of good faith
".
He assured in Collard's defense that "
in his mind, Xavier Niel had been condemned
".
Read also Xavier Niel puts all his press in a foundation
"
It's a slap in the face for Niel given the weakness of the sentences,
" said Wallerand de Saint-Just for his part.
The court noted that the two defendants, both lawyers, could not have confused in good faith “
indictment
” and “
pre-trial detention
” on the one hand, and “
conviction
” on the other.
In 2004, while he had invested in sex shops, Xavier Niel was suspected of "
pimping
" and "
concealment of abuse of social goods
".
Charged, he had spent a month in pre-trial detention.
Finally cleared of the head of "procuring", he was sentenced in 2006 to two years in prison and a fine of 250,000 euros for "concealment of abuse of social good".
