French Minister of Health, Labour and Employment, Xavier Bertrand, is to stand trial for slander after accusing Mediapart of using "fascist methods" in its exposure and coverage of the L'Oréal-Bettencourt scandal last year. Mediapart Editor-in-Chief Edwy Plenel explains the background and context of what may prove to be a landmark case.
-------------------------
In June 2010, Mediapart filed a suit for slander against Xavier Bertrand, then secretary-general of President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling UMP party, after he accused Mediapart of employing "fascist methods" during a public debate held on July 6th 2010 in the town of Raincy, close to Paris. The subject of the debate was that of the pension reform plan, where he was speaking in the company of Eric Woerth, the then-labour minister in charge of pushing the bill through parliament.
Enlargement : Illustration 1
Mediapart's exclusive revelations of the Bettencourt-L'Oréal scandal last year (see links to selected articles at bottom of this page) included evidence of Woerth's suspected involvement in influence peddling and illegal political party funding. Bertrand's comments, made just as Mediapart had begun revealing the scope of the scandal, targeted our coverage and notably our publication of secretly recorded conversations between L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt and her close advisors. The revealing conversations were taped by Bettencourt's butler, Pascal Bonnefoy, and Mediapart published only those extracts that were of clear public interest.
During the July 2010 debate in Raincy, Bertrand answered a question about Mediapart's reporting of Woerth's activities when he was UMP party treasurer. His comments, made in his official capacity as head of the UMP party and which were widely relayed via the media, amounted to a grave slur against Mediapart.
Bertrand told the public gathering: "They are methods, methods of another time. And when certain media, and notably a website, use fascist methods notably from, I say, totally illegal bugging recordings, with rumours precisely, an official of this site says ‘Ah, listen, we don't have proof but it's plausible', no, hold on, in which world are we in, in which world are we in? Ah, because it's plausible one allows oneself to accuse a minister of the [French] republic and the President of the republic. That's not how French democracy functions. And I say to you, I say to you, we are conscious of the task that is ours, the responsibility that is ours. But one thing is certain, we have not decided to allow methods of another time implant themselves in our country."
Following a preliminary investigation opened in September 2010 into Mediapart's complaint for slander, Bertrand, 46, was formally placed under investigation - a French legal move which is one step short of being charged - on June 30th this year. The minister has formally confirmed using the phrase "fascist methods". The examining magistrate in charge of the case, Claudine Enfoux, formally sent the minister for trial earlier this month (see the full text of her decision, dated December 16th, at bottom of page).
In Mediapart's suit for slander that was filed on July 20th 2010 by our lawyers Jean-Pierre Mignard and Emmanuel Tordjman (the full text, in French, can be found here), we explained why we did not dismiss UMP party chief Bertrand's comments as a simple, contentious statement. We decided to seek judicial recourse because to accuse an online journal of employing "fascist methods" did not only slander this online journal, which is recognised as an organ of the press by the French commission for publications and press agencies, the CPPAP. For in fact, his comments were slander addressed against a whole profession, and through them the democratic principle which they have the task of keeping alive, namely that of the freedom and plurality of news reporting.
In the wording of our suit, we explained: "The expression ‘fascist methods' used by Monsieur Bertrand is clearly very grave in its characterization of professional practices of any sort, and more still concerning the profession of journalism when one is aware of the quasi-sacrosanct status given to it by the declarations and founding texts of democracies that uphold that its free exercise is the necessary consequence of the liberty of expression. It is the deontological nature of methods used, as systematically underlined by legal precedents on the subject, that sets apart the reporting work of a journalist from that of simple opinion. The common shared sense of the expression "fascist methods" immediately implies behavior dictated by totalitarian fanaticism, the disregard for human rights, the justification of the use of force, of slyness, of dissimulation, of hate, violence and the carriage of everything that might accompany the ignoring of human dignity."
"The common understanding of fascism associates it with the most hideous periods of the 20th century, notably those linked to the dictatorships of Mussolini and Hitler, to the Franco regime in Spain or that of Salazar in Portugal. The term 'methods' relate to those practiced by fascist, or fascist-inspired, movements, all of them characterized by a quasi-pathological aversion towards the republic, towards democracy, with almost always an anti-Semitic and xenophobic sentiment [...] To accept the phrase 'fascist methods' goes well beyond the single accusation of obeying or being influenced by a fascist ideology, which could be taken as only an offensive remark [...] But the term 'methods' is perfectly inacceptable because it supposes the existence of precise and determined events which refer, regarding fascism, practices that are historically identifiable: murder, lynching, violence and intimidation."
Mediapart awaits the trial with impatience and serenity. The slanderous campaign - launched at the pinnacle of the French state - likening Mediapart to a fascist organ, was the expression of the panic that the Bettencourt affair caused throughout the summer of 2010. The affair unveiled the real nature of the Sarkozy presidency, its widespread conflicts of interest, its constant examples of social injustice and, more generally, its propensity to submit politics to the power of money.
The decision to send Bertrand for trial comes just as recent progress in the ongoing judicial investigations into the disturbing evidence uncovered in the Bettencourt affair demonstrate the substance and veracity of the facts revealed by Mediapart.
The December 16th ruling by Judge Claudine Enfoux, in French only (see further below for links to Mediapart's coverage of the Bettencourt-L'Oréal affair):
-------------------------
For more on the Bettencourt affair, click on the links below:
French prosecutor in Bettencourt affair illegally spied on journalists' phone calls
Exclusive: L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt's secret tax-dodging accounts and mystery payments
L'Oréal heiress ordered to pay 77.7 million euros after tax scam probe
Behind the bettencourt affair: the battle for L'Oréal
French interior minister drops libel action against Mediapart
A scandal too far: Bettencourt magistrate is disowned
Dinners, cash and Sarkozy: what Bettencourt's accountant told Mediapart
Bettencourt butler bites back: 'I saw L'Oréal family destroyed'
Bettencourt battle back after L'Oréal heiress signs away 143 million euros
The political guard watching over L'Oréal
The eerie plot penned by L'Oréal family scandal dandy in 1971
Bettencourt chauffeur adds to Sarkozy campaign fund allegations
Bettencourt tapes stolen in mystery break-ins targetting Mediapart, Le Point and Le Monde
-------------------------
English version: Graham Tearse