JI am prosecuted in justice by one of my research objects. In January 2022, after the release of my book Russia Today (RT). A media of influence in the service of the Russian state (INA, 2021), the RT France channel has indeed filed a defamation complaint against me. A subsidiary of the Russian transnational network RT (ex-Russia Today), RT France was suspended, within the European Union, after the large-scale invasion of Ukraine, because of its links with the Russian aggressive state and its justification for the“Special military operation”under the terms used by Moscow. RT in French has since been relocated to Moscow.
On April 4, 2024, my publisher and I were indicted, before being finally released, on February 5, by the Criminal Court of Créteil. The court has indeed judged that none of the nine attacked passages involved defamatory. RT France appealed this decision.
These prosecution is called a “bâillon procedure”. Intended to intimidate researchers who investigate sensitive objects and land, they generate significant legal costs, strong psychological pressure, considerable waste of time as well as incentive to self -censorship. The procedure that aims to me is all the more cynical and paradoxical as part of RT’s communication consists, on the surface, to set up as a defender of pluralism and freedom of expression against the supposed univocity of “Mainstream media” and censorship of “Politically correct”.
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