French journalists Eric Laurent and Catherine Graciet were sentenced on Tuesday in Paris to a one-year suspended prison sentence and a 10,000 euro fine, found guilty of trying to blackmail King Mohammed VI.
The journalists demanded money in return for the non-publication of a supposedly "explosive" book on Morocco. Their lawyers appealed. The defendants, aged 76 and 48 today, denied having made any threat but admitted having committed an “ethical error” by “accepting a proposal for a financial arrangement from Rabat”. This, while they actually received part of the money claimed.
The case dates back to the summer of 2015 when Eric Laurent, former reporter for Radio France and Le Figaro Magazine and author of numerous books, contacted the King's private secretariat and a meeting took place on August 11 in a Parisian palace with the lawyer Hicham Naciri, emissary of Morocco. Just after this first meeting, Morocco had filed a complaint in Paris for blackmail and an investigation had been opened. Two other meetings were then held under police surveillance on August 21 and 27.
Catherine Graciet, in particular author of books on the Maghreb and Libya, was present at the third meeting, during which the two journalists had signed a financial agreement up to 2 million euros to abandon the book. At the end, they were arrested with two envelopes each containing 40,000 euros in cash. The three meetings had been recorded and given to the investigators.
For the Paris Criminal Court, the two journalists had a "common approach" and they exerted "pressure" on the emissary by speaking, among other things, of a book which would be "devastating" for the Kingdom. According to the judgment, "the price of silence, that is to say corresponding to the non-publication of the book, not only comes from the two journalists, but the fixed amount also".
These recordings, presented as "illegal" by the defense, were at the heart of a procedural battle but the Court of Cassation finally rejected the appeals of the journalists in November 2017.
These recordings and their transcription were the subject of a lively debate during the trial on January 17, but, again, the facts are stubborn. During this hearing, the prosecution had requested a one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 15,000 euros. Justice is done even if, given the seriousness of the charges, the verdict will have been very lenient.
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