The Court of Cassation will rule on May 11 on the appeals filed by ex-minister Pierre Joxe and journalist Éric Brion, who sued for defamation of women who accused them of sexual violence as part of the #Metoo wave.
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In these two cases, the Advocate General of the Court spoke on Tuesday at the hearing for the cassation of the judgments which dismissed Pierre Joxe and Éric Brion of their lawsuits, while underlining "
the importance
" of the freedom of 'expression.
The Advocate General's opinion does not prejudge the Court's decision, even if the highest instance of the judiciary often follows her recommendations.
Sexual assault charge
Former Minister Pierre Joxe turned to the Court of Cassation after being dismissed by the Paris Court of Appeal of his defamation action against author Ariane Fornia, 32, who accused him of sexual assault .
The case began in October 2017, when the young woman, daughter of Nicolas Sarkozy's ex-minister Éric Besson, published a long post in which she claimed to have been the victim of sexual assault in her youth, one of which at the Opera Bastille.
She did not name her alleged attacker, but referred to "
a former minister of Mitterrand, member of several governments, who held sovereign functions
".
The name of Pierre Joxe had quickly emerged.
At first instance, Ariane Fornia was ordered to pay a symbolic euro in damages and 3,000 euros in legal costs to Pierre Joxe, now 87 years old.
But last year, the Paris Court of Appeal overturned this judgment, finding that Ariane Fornia could "
benefit from the justifying fact of good faith
".
The second case examined by the 1st Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation also concerned the definition of the “
good faith
” of an accuser.
“Eric Bion #BalanceTonPorc”
Originally, the initiator of the #BalanceTonPorc movement, a French-speaking version of #MeToo initiated in the United States.
In October 2017, journalist Sandra Muller launched this hashtag on her Twitter account, calling on women to denounce those who had harassed them in the workplace.
In the process, she opened the ball of accusations by writing in a tweet: “
You have big breasts.
You are my type of woman.
I will make you cum all night long.
Éric Brion ex-boss of Equidia #BalanceTonPorc
”.
Read also#BalanceTonPorc, from digital court to judicial truth
Sandra Muller was ordered at first instance to pay 15,000 euros in damages to Éric Brion, considering that to qualify the complainant as a stalker "
without sufficient factual basis
" was defamatory.
But here again, the Paris Court of Appeal overturned this judgment in March 2021 and dismissed the complainant.
