What happened ?
Tuesday, around 6 a.m., investigators arrived at the home of journalist Ariane Lavrilleux, in Marseille, as part of an investigation into compromising national defense secrets.
She was taken to a jail in the police station, she said in a video broadcast by Reporters Without Borders. “It was a pretty terrible night in custody, because I was sick,” she says.
The former correspondent in Egypt says she invoked her right to silence throughout the interrogations, which focused in particular on journalistic investigations into the sale of arms from France to the Middle East.
She was released without being charged, although this “sword of Damocles” remains, she says.
On Thursday, a former soldier was charged with misappropriation and disclosure of national defense secrets. He is punishable by up to seven years in prison.
He would be the journalist’s confidential source.
Why is justice investigating?
In November 2021, the independent media Disclosed published a series of texts by the journalist on French participation in operations in Egypt.
According to information collected by the journalist, the anti-terrorist mission was diverted from its initial objective and civilians suspected of various trafficking were targeted in bombings. The scandal led to an internal investigation, which concluded that the “mission was the subject of a clear and [que] strict preventive measures have been put in place.”
Disclosed announced that it had obtained “hundreds of secret documents”.
Some published on the site bear the “confidential defense” seal. Information has been redacted.
After publication, an investigation was launched for compromising secrets.
What was the media reaction? Disclosed ?
“This is a serious attack [à la liberté de la presse]since the objective is obviously to track down the sources of our journalist and to Disclosed », commented to The Press Mathias Destal, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online media.
PHOTO THOMAS SAMSON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Mathias Destal (at the microphone), co-founder and editor-in-chief of Disclosed
Founded five years ago, the small non-profit media outlet is not in its first troubles. But for Mr. Destal, the treatment of Mme Lavrilleux is the “crossing of a new milestone”, since police custody extended over an unusually long period of 39 hours. The search lasted 9 hours. The General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) has deployed “very significant” resources, he specifies.
The surprise intervention in the morning, at the journalist’s home rather than at the editorial offices, is also “more intimidating”; He and his colleagues have already been summoned by investigators, but by mail and at a later time, illustrates Mr. Destal.
How did the French media react?
Around forty journalists’ companies, including Agence France-Presse and the daily newspaper The world, signed an open letter. “The arrest of our colleague as part of a judicial investigation […] represents an unprecedented attack against the protection of the confidentiality of journalists’ sources,” writes the collective, which also denounces the “multiplication of procedures against journalists in recent years.”
They called on the Minister of Culture and Information and the President of the Republic to make strengthening the protection of sources and the independence of editorial staff a priority issue.
The Minister of Culture has not commented on the matter.
PHOTO ISABELLE WESSELINGH, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Demonstrators denounce the detention of journalist Ariane Lavrilleux at the Marseille police headquarters on Wednesday.
Is the arrest of journalists frequent?
Lawyer Bertrand Warusfel, professor at Paris 8 University and vice-president of the French Association of Security and Defense Law, was not surprised by the events, noting that this type of investigation is “ quite common” for around ten years. “Every time there is an alleged violation of national defense secrecy, the DGSI must carry out an investigation and interview at least all the people concerned,” he said.
And, therefore, the journalists having revealed confidential information. “Afterwards, we can regret the fact that it is very systematic, the fact that she remained in police custody for almost two days, the search, all that,” he adds. It’s a bit heavy. I understand that many journalists think that there is perhaps an objective of deterrence or intimidation to try to circumvent the right to protection of their sources. »
A multiplication of journalistic revelations and the sensitivity of the intelligence services around the anti-terrorism campaigns carried out by France over the past ten years could explain why more journalists are targeted by procedures. Even if the reporters arrested in recent years have not been convicted, specifies Me Warusfel.
What about source protection?
Journalists’ associations denounce this type of procedure as a way of obtaining the identity of a confidential interlocutor, despite the principle of protection of sources, sacred in journalism – but not absolute in law, recalls M.e Warusfel, especially when it comes to national security.
Experts and journalists, however, denounce the extent of this justification.
“Many experts in France, but also in other countries, judge that state administrations use defense secrecy too easily, that is to say that they classify too much information and, above all, they don’t declassify them quickly enough,” underlines Me Warusfel.
In her video speech, Ariane Lavrilleux agrees that operations must be protected by secrecy, “but national defense must not be used to hide crimes,” she adds.
With Agence France-Presse and The world
Who is Ariane Lavrilleux?
Ariane Lavrilleux is an independent journalist currently based in Marseille.
She was a correspondent in Cairo and traveled the Middle East, collaborating with several media outlets, including Mediapart and RFI.
She was in the running for the Albert-London prize in 2022 for her reporting on French operations in Egypt.