France: Unions denounce the intimidation of several journalists at the Mazan high-profile rape trial
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), together with its French affiliate CFDT-Journalistes, strongly condemn the numerous attacks against journalists during the high-profile Mazan rape trial. These attacks include the eviction of Frédéric Munsch, who was assaulted by one of the defendants, and gender-based intimidation, such as that suffered by the journalist Anna Margueritat.
The Mazan rapes trial began on 2 September 2024 before the Criminal Court of Vaucluse. Fifty-one defendants, including Dominique Pélicot, Gisèle Pélicot’s husband, will be on trial until next December in this legal case which has already attracted unprecedented attention. This trial, widely covered by French and international media, has seen multiple incidents taking place, during which news media and some journalists have been targeted.
On 19 September 2024, Frédéric Munsch, a freelance photojournalist and videographer working for the Sipa press agency, was ordered to leave the courthouse in Avignon by “order of the public prosecutor”. He was escorted out of the press corner by a policeman without any written document. The journalist had been covering the trial since it began. He told the EFJ that his mission was to take pictures for the press and film behind the scenes of the hearings to capture the atmosphere of the trial, including the behaviour of the defendants. The journalist published a video, relayed by several media outlets, of a defendant threatening a member of the public to rape her mother. According to Frédéric Munsch, his videos led to him being “identified” by the defendants and their lawyers. During the lunch break on 19 September, while Frédéric Munsch was outside the court, one of the defendants approached him aggressively, insulting him and intending to hit him. Later, when he returned to the courthouse, the prosecutor’s legal assistant, Florence Galtier, told him that he had to leave the premises.
His union, the CFDT-Journalistes, contacted the court to request an explanation for Munsch’s expulsion and to ask for his return. The tribunal replied that the journalist had posed a “risk to public order” with his videos of the defendants and had allegedly violated the right to the image. According to the CFDT-Journalistes, Frédéric Munsch did not break any ethical rules.
“Journalists’ only mission is to inform, and they judge whether or not what they are witnessing is a piece of information that is useful for understanding facts or a context. If what they reveal brings turmoil or even scandal, it is the facts revealed that must be questioned, not their broadcaster. We are concerned about decisions that we consider arbitrary and that do not seem to be motivated by the public’s interest in being informed,” the CFDT-Journalistes declared.
As for the photojournalist Anna Margueritat, on 20 September she suffered intimidation, including inappropriate gestures, from one of the defendants. She deplores the sexist and misogynistic environment of the trial and the repeated threats against her and her colleagues.
The EFJ and the CFDT-Journalistes welcome with relief the lifting of the closed hearing arbitrarily ordered by the president of the court, Roger Arata, on 20 September. This decision, taken against the will of the plaintiff, provoked numerous reactions, including from the National Syndicate of Journalists (SNJ), which called on the president to “let the press do its job, in the interest of justice and for the serenity of the debates”, and from the legal press association.
“In this kind of large-scale trial, it is more important than ever to respect the code of journalistic ethics and the role of the media in informing citizens. The multiple obstructions that have been observed reflect a hidden objective aimed at restricting the right of access to information. The context of stress and tension must not affect the free exercise of journalism and the impartial reporting of the hearings,” said Ricardo Gutiérrez, EFJ General Secretary.
