Three journalists from Radio France and Disclose escaped indictment in Paris on Tuesday January 30 after being suspected of having revealed in 2018 the identity of a member of the special forces suspected of favoritism and who had filed a complaint, a- we learned from sources close to the matter.
They were placed under the status of assisted witness, more favorable, which could presage the intention of the investigating judge to pronounce a final dismissal of the case.
Benoît Collombat and Geoffrey Livolsi, authors of the French investigation
“Air transport: suspicions of influence peddling in the army”
published in March 2018 by Radio France, were summoned to the Paris judicial court in the company of Jacques Monin, director of investigations and investigation of the public radio group.
They were accused of having revealed or divulged information allowing the identification of a member of a special forces unit or the staff of the special operations command, an offense punishable by five years of imprisonment and 75,000 euros. fine.
According to sources close to the case, the Paris prosecutor's office requested their indictment on January 24.
But the investigating judge chose Tuesday to place them under the status of assisted witness, considering that they had
“in no way specified that the complainant would be a member of a special forces unit nor a member of the general staff of Special Operations Command
.
“No criminal intent”
“No criminal intention (...) appears established while the primary desire”
of the authors of the article
“was to inform”
, further underlines the judge according to the same sources.
Asked by AFP, the three journalists did not wish to comment at this stage, nor did Geoffrey Livolsi's lawyer, Maître Virginie Marquet.
“I am pleased that the judge clearly understood that this article of the penal code was not applicable in the circumstances to journalists who had in no way intended to undermine the protection of the special forces
,” indicated Maître Basile for his part. Ader, lawyer for the two Radio France journalists.
The three journalists had already been interviewed freely in December 2022 in the premises of the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI), as part of the judicial investigation opened in 2018.
This first summons sparked numerous criticisms from defenders of press freedom.
Broadcast in the program
“Secrets d'info”
on France Inter and on the Internet, their investigation revealed that the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) had launched investigations concerning soldiers, including senior officers.
They are suspected of having participated in an operation in the 2010s which allowed the company International Chartering Systems (ICS) to be favored in the award of logistics contracts, in particular air transport, for external operations of the French army.
As revealed by AFP in December, the PNF recently summoned eight soldiers, including officers, for a trial before the Paris Criminal Court which is to be held in September.