Defamation against Garrido and Corbière: "Le Point" journalist Aziz Zemouri ordered to pay several thousand euros

Four thousand euros fine for writing an article on "an incomplete factual basis" . The president of the 17th chamber of the Paris Criminal Court fined journalist Aziz Zemmouri and Etienne Gernelle, the publication director of Le Point , for having stated, in a 2022 article , that the ex-LFI couple Raquel Garrido and Alexis Corbière employed an undocumented cleaning lady. The latter will also be paid the sum of 6,000 euros in damages. The court also denounced Aziz Zemouri's lack of willingness to "support the information gathered" .

Journalistic ethics were at the heart of the defamation trial that took place on Friday, March 14. "You have a single source that is adulterated, unverified facts, an adversarial system that is a farce : this investigation simply does not hold water !" the lawyer for the civil parties castigated in his plea.

"Judging the quality of this investigation is like playing spot the difference," continued Xavier Sauvignet, describing the article in Le Point as "organized buzz." The latter was published online on June 21, 2022, with the mention "Exclusive" and was titled: "The undocumented employee of Raquel Garrido and Alexis Corbière." Journalist Aziz Zemouri implicated the two members of the couple, both then LFI deputies for Seine-Saint-Denis, accusing them of exploiting an undocumented cleaning lady whom they allegedly "subjected to infernal work rates."

The article also claimed that the MPs, who lived in Bagnolet, were educating their children in Paris. The following day, the weekly removed the article from its website and publicly admitted that it was "false" and "deceptive." Aziz Zemouri, who left the weekly after the affair, also offered his "most sincere apologies," saying he had been "the victim of manipulation."

The public prosecutor cited "a lack of prudence" and information that was not verified as it should have been. "He was fooled ! Everything was fabricated to make it look like something that was completely true," argued David-Olivier Kaminski in his defense. The reporter's lawyer defended the professionalism of his client, a journalist "who is known by all for his professional integrity."

The former journalist from Le Point has always maintained to investigators that he was duped by one of his sources, a police officer who gave him the tip about the undocumented cleaning lady. Investigations then led to Rudy Succar, a former driver for Jean-Christophe Lagarde , the outgoing MP and UDI candidate defeated by Raquel Garrido in the Drancy constituency.

After several interrogations, the former driver admitted to having posed as the cleaning lady to the journalist at the urgent, even "obsessive" request of Jean-Christophe Lagarde, because the latter had wanted to obtain compromising evidence against his rival. The former MP denounced the "most absolute and absurd" lies.

At the hearing last March, Raquel Garrido regretted the absence of the two defendants, the author of the article, but also the editor of Le Point , Etienne Gernelle, both responsible, according to her, for "one of the worst fake news in modern political history." Denouncing shoddy work and a political article, the lawyer and columnist reminded the court that other journalists very quickly dismantled Le Point 's investigation.

"Just ask anyone in Bagnolet, it's a village, everyone knows where we live and where our children go to school and he, the great reporter, wasn't able to do it !" the former MP quipped. "How is it possible for a major weekly newspaper to publish this?" Alexis Corbière asked in court. "The difference between a blogger, an influencer and a journalist is the fact that the journalist normally checks the information," continued the MP, who now sits with the ecologists.

In the other part of the case, Jean-Christophe Lagarde, Rudy Succar, and Noam Anouar, Aziz Zemouri's police contact, are being investigated for organized fraud. Aziz Zemouri is a civil party alongside the Garrido-Corbière couple.