(Paris) Sand Van Roy, actress who accuses Luc Besson of rape, was again convicted of defamation on Tuesday in Paris Point and his journalist Aziz Zemouri for an article on this case dating from October 2018.
Posted at 9:11 a.m.
Étienne Gernelle, publication director of the Point, and Mr. Zemouri, are ordered to pay a fine of 3,000 euros and 2,000 euros respectively, as well as to jointly pay 3,000 euros in damages to Sand Van Roy, as well as 2,000 euros in legal costs. The offending passage should be removed from the site.
In this article broadcast on lepoint.fr, Mr. Zemouri stated in particular that the Belgian-Dutch actress would have filed in Belgium “another complaint for rape which dates from several months against an unknown individual”.
According to this article, Luc Besson “remembered” in front of the investigators “that she had spoken to him about it. He questioned these facts of rape since as far as he is concerned, they are false, he asserted”.
These assertions of Point are “a pure invention”. “There has never been a complaint in Belgium against an unknown person”, which had been confirmed by investigators and the Bruges prosecutor’s office, according to Me Antoine Gitton, one of Sand Van Roy’s lawyers.
For the 17e Chamber of the Paris Criminal Court, the article of the Point “disconsiders the procedure initiated by (Sand Van Roy) and lets believe that no tangible element would come to support the charges brought against Luc Besson”.
The actress has indeed accused the director of rape and sexual assault since May 2018. He benefited last May from a dismissal on appeal. The complainant appealed.
The court considers that at certain times, the journalist “seems to take up the cause” for Luc Besson in a form of “promotion of (his) defense”.
On the passage specifically referred to, he “insinuates” that Sand Van Roy “files complaints for rape devoid of any foundation”, which is defamatory.
The good faith of Point and Aziz Zemouri was not retained. They produced at the hearing a “snapshot taken from half a sheet” presented as “an extract from the hearing of Luc Besson” in front of the police.
This “screenshot does not have, given its presentation, any probative value, nothing allowing to affirm that it was not the subject of a manipulation”, estimates the court.
In June 2021, Point and Mr. Zemouri had previously been convicted of defamation after an article calling the actress a former “call girl”. The conviction was upheld on appeal in April.
In a second case where they were also sued for defamation by Mr.me Van Roy, Messrs. Gernelle and Zemouri, on the other hand, were released.
Was targeted this time an article from December 2018 evoking his confrontation with the filmmaker.
If the comments “obviously aimed to denigrate Sand Van Roy”, they were not defamatory, according to the court.
Furthermore, on June 23, Point had to remove from its site an article written by Mr. Zemouri unduly accusing the couple of LFI deputies Raquel Garrido and Alexis Corbière of having exploited an undocumented employee.
The journalist, who said he was “victim of manipulation” and “apologised”, was laid off and summoned to an interview prior to possible dismissal.