(London) British justice on Friday ordered the holding of a trial for the publisher of the tabloid The Sunsued by comedian Hugh Grant for gathering illegal information.
The trial is due to be held in January.
The 62-year-old British actor notably accuses the Sunwhose editor NGN denies any illegal process, to have resorted to private detectives.
Judge Timothy Fancourt ruled that the lawsuits brought by Hugh Grant should be dealt with at trial, except for a part of them, relating to telephone hacking. The magistrate considered that the actor should have initiated the proceedings earlier in this regard.
A similar procedure was initiated by Prince Harry. A decision on the holding of a trial will be known in the coming months.
In his conclusions, Hugh Grant criticizes the Sun “illegal acts” including “sponsored burglary, violation of private property to obtain information by placing microphones, listening to fixed telephone lines”, as well as “telephone hacking and the use of private investigators to accomplish the whole” .
A spokesperson for NGN said the phone hacking charges were dismissed, saying the group “strongly denies the charges of unlawful information gathering contained in what remains of Mr. grant”.
Welcoming the judge’s decision, Hugh Grant considered it “necessary for the truth to come out” about the activities of the Sunemphasizing that this case “goes much further than interceptions of voicemails”.