Morocco, accused of having used Pegasus spy software, developed by the Israeli group NSO, is stepping up legal attacks in France.
The media which revealed or denounced the case are targeted by defamation proceedings, but their admissibility remains very uncertain.
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On July 22, Morocco launched a first libel proceeding against Amnesty and Forbidden Stories, the two organizations having obtained the list of phone numbers targeted by Pegasus clients.
Complaints against Le Monde, Mediapart and Radio France
On Wednesday, the lawyer for the Kingdom of Morocco, Me Olivier Baratelli, handed in "four new direct citations in defamation".
Two of them target the daily Le Monde, a member of the consortium of 17 international media that revealed the scandal, and its director Jérôme Fenoglio.
A third pursues Mediapart and its boss Edwy Plenel, and the last attack Radio France, also a member of the consortium.
Read also Pegasus spyware: in the world, a scandal with limited impact
A first procedural hearing is scheduled for October 15 before the chamber specializing in press law.
But if a trial goes ahead, it shouldn't take place for about two years.
Especially since this procedure will come up against a recent case law of the Court of Cassation: already seized by Morocco after several rejection of its complaints, the Court ruled in 2019 that a State could not initiate proceedings for public defamation. for lack of being a "private individual" within the meaning of the law on freedom of the press.
"The Moroccan State is perfectly admissible" since it also acts on "behalf of its administrations and its services", assures Me Baratelli who intends to scrape against this unfavorable jurisprudence.
"Media cabal"
The daily Le Monde indicates for its part "to wait to verify the reality and the content of these lawsuits".
For his part, the Moroccan Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, filed Wednesday in Paris a complaint in "slanderous denunciation" against Mediapart and its director of publication Edwy Plenel, announced in a statement the lawyer of the Minister, Me Rodolphe Bosselut.
The minister intends to challenge "the insidious allegations and slander peddled for several days by these media which bring serious accusations against the institutions he represents, without putting forward any concrete evidence".
The minister still denounces "a media cabal".
His “slanderous denunciation” complaint responds to the complaints against X filed on July 19 by Mediapart, two journalists of which were spied on via the Pegasus software. However, it cannot be examined immediately by French justice, but only at the end of the investigation opened on July 20 by the Paris prosecutor's office into this vast espionage scandal and in the event that the minister and his services are put out. of cause.