Philippe Karsenty isn’t the only person having a headache with the French media and justice establishment. France’s Supreme Court struck down a lower court’s ruling that a commentary published by Le Monde in June, 2003 defamed Israel (read a translation of Edgar Morin’s article here).
In May, 2005, a lower court ordered Le Monde to print a retraction and pay a fine of one symbolic Euro. But the Irish Times reports that the Supreme Court ruled otherwise:
Judges must analyse the incriminated text in its context,” the Supreme Court verdict said. By isolating two paragraphs from a much longer article expressing the authors’ opinions on a highly polemical subject, the Versailles court had violated article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as French law.
“The text in reality targeted the policy of the government of Israel against Palestinians, and not individuals or groups of individuals because of their national or ethnic origin, their race or religion . . .” the Supreme Court concluded.
The Supreme Court justices bought into an old argument advanced by Morin’s supporters that the article needs to be “contextualized.”
Meanwhile, France 2 TV’s next defamation suit, against Pierre Lurcat, begins this week….
