The ex-wife of the Russian oligarch Arkadi Rotenberg, prosecuted in Nice for defamation for having denounced his alleged expulsion from the couple's villa on the Côte d'Azur by supposed "
Chechen terrorists
", was released on Friday May 27.
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Absent from the hearing before the Nice Criminal Court in early May, just like her lawyers, Natalia Rotenberg, 41, married to Arkadi Rotenberg for eight years, until April 2013, had posted messages and a video on July 15, 2021 on Instagram and Tiktok where she explained how people she called "
radical terrorists
" had taken possession of the Shoshana villa five days earlier.
Sanctions against a villa unoccupied since 2014
This luxurious villa located on the paradisiacal peninsula of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (Alpes-Maritimes), very popular with Russian billionaires, has been unoccupied since 2014. It is the subject of international sanctions taken against the oligarchs close to the president Russian Vladimir Putin after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
At the hearing on May 9, the prosecutor had demanded that Natalia Rotenberg be sentenced for defamation to pay “
several thousand euros
”.
Friday, the criminal court acquitted the ex-wife of the oligarch on the grounds that "
the disputed publication does not identify the SCI (civil real estate company)
" which manages the villa.
The person referred to, namely Natalia Rotenberg, "
is not expressly named
", added the court.
Appeal of decision considered
“
I think we are going to appeal this decision
,” reacted Me Sophie Jonquet, lawyer for SCI Shoshana.
“
Everyone knows that this villa belongs to SCI Shoshana and Arkadi Rotenberg.
For the general public, it is obvious that it is he who is targeted
, ”added the lawyer at the bar of Nice.
Believing "
a pity that the prosecution's requisitions were not followed
", she recalled that a court decision was needed to compel social networks to delete an online video.
“
My villa in France was seized by radical terrorists from Chechnya
,” wrote Natalia Rotenberg, in her message: “
They drove my employees out of the territory by force, beat the guards and the manager, (...) seized the villa , changed the locks
,” she added.
"
The sponsors are big Russian oligarchs who don't like my active work
", accused Natalia Rotenberg again, assuring that "
there was a video (Editor's note: facts) and that the (French) police were cooperating with terrorists
" .
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“
Natalia Rotenberg does not live in the said villa and has sent people there who have no right or title to stay there
,” pleaded Me Jonquet.
The manager of the SCI had in fact mandated a security company which had forced security agents mandated by Arkadi Rotenberg to leave the premises.
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