Grégory affair: No conviction for France Télévisions and the report of “Complément d'instruction” -

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A report that does not deserve condemnation.

On Friday, the Nancy judicial court dismissed the widow and daughter of Judge Lambert, as well as the widow and sons of Bernard Laroche, who had sued France Télévisions for defamation after the broadcast of a report on the Gregory case in 2018 .

The court ruled that the report

Grégory, the curse of the judges

, broadcast in the program

Complément d'études

 on September 6, 2018, did not "undermine the honor or the consideration of Mr. Bernard Laroche, and therefore in his memory ”, according to the judgment consulted by AFP.

The claims for damages, which amounted to 70,000 euros for the widow of Bernard Laroche and 60,000 euros for each of his two sons, were therefore rejected.

Solicited, Me Gérard Welzer, the lawyer for the Laroche family, indicated that he was studying the possibility of appealing this decision.

In October, he had obtained the conviction of France Televisions for another report, broadcast by

Special Envoy

.

"The limits of freedom of expression have not been exceeded"

Concerning the summons formulated by the Lambert family, the court, on the contrary, considered that the “comments and assessments” made on the “quality of the work” accomplished by Judge Lambert and “on his behavior” “undoubtedly undermine his honor and for his consideration ”.

They stress that Jean-Michel Lambert is "presented as having been particularly incompetent" and "inconsistent".

Nevertheless, the magistrates considered that the authors of the report carried out a “serious” work, by pursuing a “legitimate aim which consisted of informing the public”.

They considered that "the limits of freedom of expression have not been exceeded", and therefore retained "the exception of good faith" to rule out any defamation.

"France Télévisions is satisfied with the judgment insofar as the quality and integrity of the report are recognized", reacted Eric Andrieu, the group's lawyer.

Nicknamed "the little judge", Jean-Michel Lambert was 32 when the corpse of Grégory Villemin, 4, was found on October 16, 1984, hand and foot in the Vologne region.

He was the first judge to investigate this case, before the case was entrusted to the Dijon Court of Appeal.

On July 11, 2017, he was found unconscious at Le Mans, after expressing his intention to end his life.

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