According to information from World, Bernard-Henri Lévy was dismissed, Wednesday September 22, by the 17e chamber of the Paris Criminal Court, in his defamation lawsuit against journalist Denis Robert, co-founder of the site in February Blast. “BHL” appealed against this judgment. The writer had filed a defamation complaint in May against Mr. Robert, director of the publication of Blast. The object of his wrath? An article published by the site on April 29, co-signed by Thierry Gadault and Bernard Nicolas.
Supporting documents in Arabic, the two investigative journalists claimed to have got their hands on a ” payment order “, addressed in October 2011 to the director of the treasury of Qatar by Yousef Hussain Kamal Al-Emadi, then minister of economy and finance of the emirate and president of the Qatar National Bank (QNB). The latter would have ordered that a “Certified check for 40 million Qatari riyals [9,1 millions d’euros] be given to Bernard-Henri Lévy. By order of the emir [Hamad Al-Thani]. “
In his article, Blast wondered about the reasons for this alleged payment order to BHL and referred to the key role played by the latter, in 2011, in France’s military intervention in Libya, decided by President Nicolas Sarkozy, and fall of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Through its editor (Grasset), BHL had sent Blast an answer that he “Never had any contact whatsoever with Qatar. Any document which would claim the contrary can only be a crude forgery ”.
“No fact is attributed to Bernard-Henri Lévy”
On June 16, during the hearing before the 17e chamber, lawyer of BHL, Me Alain Jakubowicz, claimed 100,000 euros in damages, the removal of the incriminated article, and 3,000 euros on-call per day of delay in the execution of the sentence. His client was not present at the trial.
“It will be observed that at this stage no fact is attributed to Bernard-Henri Lévy other than the insinuation that he may have received money from a foreign state, including relations with France and investments in the country are notorious, write the judges in their judgment. This fact, if it is precise, is not contrary to honor and consideration, notions which it must be remembered that they should not be assessed according to the personal and subjective conceptions of the applicant, but according to objective criteria and the general disapproval of the contested allegation. “
“One of the conclusions of this judgment is that these documents are usable and plausible and that they were treated by journalists with care and without distorting them, reacts Me Julien Kahn, the lawyer of Blast. The documents do not say that BHL received money from Qatar, but that the Emir considered paying BHL money. We are in journalistic supposition and debate of ideas. “
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