The former Canal + star columnist Pierre Ménès, filed a complaint on Tuesday, November 30 in Paris for “slanderous denunciation”, AFP learned Thursday from his lawyer Arash Derambarsh.
The episode dates back to November 20, on the sidelines of the match between PSG and Nantes. A woman reported sexual assault to the police for which Pierre Ménès is believed to be responsible. However, she did not file a complaint. The same day, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation, entrusted to the 1st district of the judicial police.
Pierre Ménès produces three certificates of persons “unanimously confirming that (he) spent all of his time by their side as soon as he arrived for the cocktail in the box, during the match and the post-match cocktail”, according to the complaint consulted by AFP. “They confirm that absolutely nothing happened and that Mr. Ménès behaved flawlessly”, according to this document.
“Following this malicious report, a flood of press articles seriously damaged the honor and the consideration of Mr. Pierre Ménès who in particular suffered from a depression”, is it underlined.
“My client asked to be auditioned to show his perfect innocence during this evening of November 20 at the Parc des Princes. 5 people testified concerning his irreproachable behavior including a police officer”
Arash Derambarsh, lawyer for Pierre MénèsAFP
Sidelined at the end of March after accusations of sexual assault, the 58-year-old former Canal Football Club columnist left the encrypted channel on July 1, ending nearly 12 years of collaboration.
This departure is the consequence of the broadcast on March 21 on Canal + of a documentary on sexism in sports writing. Sequences incriminating him were then cut during the editing at the request of the chain. Pierre Ménès, 58, is notably accused of having lifted off the air in 2016 the skirt of journalist Marie Portolano, co-director of the documentary.
He says he does not remember it because of serious health problems at the time: a non-alcoholic cirrhosis which kept him away from the plateaus for seven months and required a double transplant of the liver and a kidney. He is also criticized for having forcibly kissed journalist Isabelle Moreau on television in 2011, as well as columnist Francesca Antoniotti in 2016.