Mediapart.

Illustration -

Christophe Ena / AP / SIPA

Mediapart is due to appear before the Paris Criminal Court on Friday.

The news site had pinned in August 2017 the current Ministers of the Interior and Overseas, Gérald Darmanin and Sébastien Lecornu, accusing them of having spent a holiday in Corsica with "a convict".

Deeming themselves defamed, the two ministers, respectively Minister of Public Accounts and Secretary of State to the Minister responsible for the Ecological Transition at the material time, lodged a complaint.

The latter will not be present at the hearing but will be represented by Me Philippe Blanchetier.

"Two ministers rent the villa in Corsica from a convict"

The director of the publication of Mediapart, Edwy Plenel, must however attend the trial to be held before the 17th chamber, specializing in press affairs.

On August 16, 2017, the site had published an article under the title "two ministers rent the villa in Corsica from a convict".

“Sébastien Lecornu and Gérald Darmanin rented a villa in the Ajaccian region.

Bad luck: it's that of the former president of the Ajaccio Chamber of Commerce, convicted of international drug trafficking, ”added Mediapart.

The villa in question, north of Ajaccio, belonged to Christelle Godani, a former Miss Corsica who was the companion of Gilbert Casanova, convicted on several occasions, in particular for trafficking in cannabis between Morocco and France.

A response on Facebook

In a long joint post published on Gérald Darmanin's Facebook account, the two ministers immediately denounced an article which, according to them, "has no other objective than to harm and to announce formally inaccurate things" .

Gérald Darmanin and Sébastien Lecornu had claimed to have provided the journalist with the lease contract indicating that Gilbert Casanova was not the owner of the villa and underlined that the legitimate owner of the residence “never had any problem with Justice ".

"That the owner of the site we are renting is the ex-wife of someone convicted by justice: does this deserve an article?

», They concluded.

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  • Gerald Darmanin

  • Mediapart

  • Media

  • Defamation