Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on Greek justice to issue “an independent decision” in the case of Romain Chauvet, a French-Canadian journalist accused of having issued a false bomb threat on a plane carrying Canadians from Israel towards Athens. The main person involved, who swears he has nothing to do with it, must appear for a second time this Thursday.
“It still remains very vague and very incomprehensible, what happened that day,” says Mr. Chauvet, reached on the line, a few hours before his new appearance, Thursday morning at the Athens courthouse. .
We must first go back to October 12 to fully understand the sequence of events. That day, the reporter had to cover the repatriation of Canadians to Greek soil and therefore went to the Athens airport.
“It was not a commercial flight, it was not displayed on the dashboards that we always see at arrivals, so I asked a lady at reception what time this flight arrived,” relates he said, taking care to point out that the employee was unable to provide a response at that time.
About half an hour later, police officers arrested Mr. Chauvet to his great surprise, mentioning an “identity check”, asking him to follow them. The journalist, who then formally identified himself as such, was then placed in police custody for approximately 24 hours. He was notably questioned by investigators, then detained in a cell, before having to appear for the first time in order to be released.
There was a lot of emphasis on how I knew there was this theft, even though it was public and known. It was several interrogations in quick succession, then I was detained in a cell until the next day, when I was transferred to court for a first appearance.
Romain Chauvet
Based on a single testimony?
Former employee of Radio-Canada, Romain Chauvet is today a foreign correspondent for several media, independently, and also occasionally collaborates with The Press. He risks up to three years in prison following his trial for “dissemination of false information”, according to article 191 of the Greek Penal Code.
According to RSF, which published a press release on the subject on Wednesday, the entire accusation against the journalist “seems to be based solely on the sole testimony” of the agent at the counter at Athens international airport. It was she who allegedly told the police that Mr. Chauvet had indicated the presence of a bomb on board the Canadian plane, according to the organization.
” I never said that. This is absolutely false,” swears the journalist, who says he still has difficulty recovering from the events. “Greece is a democracy. You don’t tell yourself when you go to the airport and ask a question about the arrival of a flight that all this is going to happen,” he slips.
“We call on Greek justice to take into account the weakness of the elements […] in a file that does not stand up,” insisted the head of RSF’s EU-Balkans desk, Pavol Szalai.
“Why would a journalist who reported himself to airport authorities make a false alarm, only to stay in the airport waiting to be arrested? While the entire accusation is based on the words of the agent at the counter, the doubt must benefit the accused,” added Mr. Szalai, deploring “this seems to be akin to an orchestrated media campaign”.
Reporters Without Borders maintains that shortly after his arrest, Mr. Chauvet was targeted by “widespread media coverage in Greek and English which reported the custody of a journalist who would have wanted to test the security systems of the ‘airport “.
At the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec (FPJQ), president Michaël Nguyen argued that “the situation is worrying and deplorable for Mr. Chauvet”.
Mr. Nguyen “asks that justice resolve the case quickly, so that the journalist can continue to practice his work without the stress of an accusation that seems unfounded.”