In August 2020, the magazine published a seven-page story called "Obono l'Africaine", where it told how the Gabon-born elected representative of Paris, portrayed as a slave, experienced "the responsibility of Africans in the horrors of the slavery" in the 18th century.
The article, accompanied by drawings representing the deputy with an iron collar around her neck, had been unanimously condemned by the entire political class, President Emmanuel Macron in the lead.
At first instance in October 2021, the editorial director Geoffroy Lejeune, the journalist Laurent Jullien and the publication director Erik Monjalous had been sentenced to a fine of 1,500 euros each and to pay 5,000 euros in damages to Ms. Obono.
At the helm of the Court of Appeal, the elected official came to say that she "always felt some discomfort" since this case.
"The references of the images, the justifications that are made around, I still feel the injustice that was done to me and the humiliation that it was," she said.
The author of the article, Laurent Jullien, explained to him that "the principle of this episode was to demonstrate what this slavery was in reality".
"I think that I avoided in this story everything that is perhaps humiliating (...) I do not think I have exceeded the limits of the genre", he defended himself.
In his indictment, Advocate General Michel Lernoux recalled that "it is mainly because of his origin" that Danièle Obono had been chosen.
The title being "Obono the African, not Obono the Insoumise", underlined the magistrate.
The lawyers for the defendants, Mes Basile Ader and Alexandre Mennucci, pleaded for their release from all proceedings.
"A conviction where they invited themselves to political satire would result in banning this newspaper from the media sphere," they argued.
The Court of Appeal will deliver its decision on November 10.
© 2022 AFP