Louise Bernard, edited by Solène Leroux with AFP
modified to
11:42 a.m., June 29, 2022
“Le Point” and its journalist Aziz Zemouri were attacked for defamation by Sand Van Roy, an actress who accuses Luc Besson of rape and sexual assault. The journalist had said that the actress had already filed another complaint for rape in Belgium, against a stranger. Which is false, as the investigators were able to verify.
Chance of the news after the Garrido-Corbière affair, the judgment fell on Tuesday. Point and its journalist Aziz Zemouri were attacked for defamation by Sand Van Roy, an actress who accuses Luc Besson of rape and sexual assault. In an article on the website of Point, Aziz Zemouri had told that the actress had already filed another complaint for rape in Belgium, against a stranger. Which is false, as the investigators were able to verify. The journalist would have had access to this information via Luc Besson’s statement to the investigators.
Point had written that Luc Besson “remembered” in front of the investigators “that she had spoken to him about it”. The magazine added “He questioned these facts of rape since as far as he is concerned, they are false, he asserted”.
The newspaper “seems to take up the cause of Luc Besson”
Justice has therefore pointed the finger at these “insinuations” of the journalist in his article which, according to her, “seems to take up the cause of Luc Besson” in a form of “promotion of [sa] defence”. On the passage specifically referred to, he “insinuates” that Sand Van Roy “files complaints for rape devoid of any foundation”, which is defamatory.
“This decision goes far beyond the sad Zemouri and newspaper Point. It is the whole ecosystem of the truth so far denied to Sand Van Roy which is called into question”, reacted to AFP Me Antoine Gitton, one of Sand Van Roy’s lawyers. Étienne Gernelle , publication director of the newspaper, and Aziz 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 June 2021, Point and Aziz 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 2022.