Paris (AFP)
The trial in which the Blues coach Didier Deschamps is suing Eric Cantona for defamation was postponed Friday, at the request of their lawyers who wanted to protest against the reform of their pension scheme.
Didier Deschamps accuses Eric Cantona, his former partner in the France team in the 1990s, of having slandered him on the eve of Euro-2016 when he declared in the British daily newspaper The Guardian that Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa n were not selected because of their origins.
Before the 17th correctional chamber of the Paris tribunal de grande instance, the lawyers for Didier Deschamps, Me Carlo Alberto Brusa, and Eric Cantona, Me Céline Bekerman, asked for the dismissal to be "in solidarity with the movement" to protest their profession against the reform of their autonomous pension scheme.
They assured that their clients intended to be present when the matter was discussed. The trial has been postponed to October 12, 2021, but until then, a hearing has been scheduled for September 17, 2020 to examine the procedural nullities raised by Eric Cantona's lawyer.
"One thing is certain, Benzema, (excluded from the Blues because of his indictment in the case of the sex tape targeting his partner Mathieu Valbuena, NDR) and Hatem Ben Arfa (then on the list of reservists, ultimately not retained, NDR) they are the two best players in France and they will not play the Euro. What is also certain is that their origins are North African. So yes, the debate is open, "said Canto , a former Manchester United idol, in The Guardian, May 26, 2016.
"Deschamps has a name that sounds very French. He is perhaps the only one in France to have such a French name. No one has ever mixed with anyone in his family. Like Mormons in America", he had added. Deschamps immediately filed a defamation complaint.
"To want it would be a weak word, I can't forget," he said six months later.
Questioned before the hearing, Me Bekerman defended the "freedom of expression" of Eric Cantona.
© 2020 AFP