(RSF/IFEX) – According to information made available by RSF on 11 September 1998, on 10 September, the 17th Correctional Court of Paris sentenced Jean-Marie Pontault and Jérôme Dupuis, journalists with the weekly “l’Express”, to pay a 5000 francs (approximately US$835) fine and 50,000 francs (approximately US$8350) in damages. The sentence followed their conviction for “receiving […]
(RSF/IFEX) – According to information made available by RSF on 11 September
1998, on 10 September, the 17th Correctional Court of Paris sentenced
Jean-Marie Pontault and Jérôme Dupuis, journalists with the weekly
“l’Express”, to pay a 5000 francs (approximately US$835) fine and 50,000
francs (approximately US$8350) in damages. The sentence followed their
conviction for “receiving and publishing investigative secrets” (“recel de
violation du secret de l’instruction”). Gilles Ménage, formerly director of
the cabinet of former French President François Mitterrand, brought the
charges against the two for having reproduced transcripts of recorded phone
conversations and [meeting] minutes in their 1996 book, “Les Oreilles du
président” (“The Ears of the President”).
RSF is concerned at the sentence handed down against Pontault and Dupuis,
which harms the right to inform and be informed. The organisation is also
concerned that in the last several months two other journalists, Gilles
Millet and Claude Ardid, were accused of receiving and publishing
investigative secrets (for background information on these cases see IFEX
alerts of 11 September, 3 July and 30 June 1998).
According to RSF, there cannot be investigative journalism worthy of its
name without the possession of such documents. This practice is currently
used by all investigative journalists. In June 1998, at the time Millet was
charged, RSF circulated a petition which, under the heading “We are all
[offenders]” (“Nous sommes tous des recèleurs”) gathered more than 250
journalists’ signatures.
