Eric Laurent and Catherine Graciet are accused of having wanted to obtain 2 million euros in 2015 by threatening to publish an explosive book on Mohammed VI.
Mo12345lemonde with AFP
Did they want to make the king of Morocco sing or have they fallen into a “trap”? Two French journalists are tried on Monday, January 16 in Paris, suspected of having wanted to obtain 2 million euros in 2015 by threatening to publish an explosive book.
Discreet meeting in hotels, clandestine recordings, police surveillance and ticket envelopes: this incredible business dates back to summer 2015. Already authors in 2012 of a previous work on Mohammed VI prohibited in Morocco, the predatory king , Eric Laurent and Catherine Graciet at the time signed, a few months ago, a new publishing contract with the threshold for a book on the same subject.
On July 23, 2015, Eric Laurent contacted the particular secretariat of the King of Morocco with a view to obtaining an appointment, finally organized on August 11 with an emissary from the Monarchy, the lawyer Hicham Naciri, at the bar A Parisian palace. During this meeting, Mr. Laurent announced the publication scheduled for early 2016 of the book containing embarrassing information for the monarchy.
But the versions then diverge: according to the journalist, it is M e naciri who offers him a financial agreement with a view to the non-publication of the work. On the contrary, the kingdom, defended at the start of the procedure by the current Keeper of the Seals and former lawyer Eric Dupond-Moretti, assures that the proposal emanated from the journalist, who claimed 3 million euros. After this first meeting, Morocco files a complaint in Paris: an investigation is immediately open.
meetings recorded in secret
This time under the supervision of the delinquency repression brigade against the person (BRDP), another meeting between the emissary and Eric Laurent took place on August 21 in the same hotel. A third interview takes place on August 27, in another hotel, this time also in the presence of Catherine Graciet. The two journalists then signed a financial agreement up to 2 million euros to withdraw the book project. Before being arrested with two envelopes each containing 40,000 euros in cash.
They will then learn that the three games were recorded in secret by the King’s emissary, who gave copies to the investigators. These captures, deemed illegal by the defense of the two journalists, were at the heart of a procedural battle during the investigation. The Court of Cassation finally rejected their appeals in November 2017. These recordings, which include many inaudible passages, will be strongly debated at the hearing.
Originally indicted also for extortion, Eric Laurent, 75, and Catherine Graciet, 48, benefited from a dismissal for this leader at the end of the judicial information, which lasted near six years. The first is a former reporter of Radio France and Figaro Magazine, columnist at France Culture, author of numerous works, including one controversial on September 11, 2001. The second worked in Morocco and published books on the Maghreb as well as than on Libya. The two defendants face five years’ imprisonment and 75,000 euros fine.
During the investigation, they admitted having accepted a contract to “undo” the book, whose geopolitical consequences “worried”, but they challenged any threat and blackmail. “M Me graciet did not have the slightest blackmail in this case and she considers that she had been the victim of a trap in good and due form,” said AFP Eric Moutet, his lawyer. “The two defendants fell into a trap, a trap stretched by Moroccan services,” said Serge Portelli, advice from Mr. Laurent. The lawyer for the kingdom of Morocco, Antoine Vey, did not wish to make a declaration.