Five years later, the case of the « predatory king » resurfaces before the courts. Suspected of « blackmailing » King Mohammed VI of Morocco, the case of Eric Laurent and Catherine Graciet, has been referred to trial, according to AFP. The two French journalists will soon be tried in Paris for blackmailing the king of Morocco, nearly six years after the case began. The facts date back to 2015.
However, the judges dropped the charges of « extortion by threat ». « As too often, the order of referral to the criminal court is a copy-paste of the indictment, » said William Bourdon and Bertrand Repolt, lawyers for Eric Laurent. « From the outset, a judicial mechanism has been set in motion with fuss and orchestration, without any factual basis. Eric Laurent should be released from the charge of blackmail, » they said.
This affair broke out in the summer of 2015, a few months before the scheduled publication of a new book by these journalists on Morocco. According to initial information at the time, Catherine Graciet and Eric Laurent, authors of a book against the king of Morocco, contacted the Moroccan royal cabinet to warn of the book’s release. The professionals then contacted Hicham Naciri, a lawyer for Hassan II’s son and successor.
As a reminder, on 20 August 2015, Morocco had filed a complaint in Paris and an investigation was opened. Two other meetings followed, on 21 and 27 August, during which the sum negotiated was reduced to 2 million euros, AFP continues, recalling that at the end of this last meeting, the two journalists had been arrested in possession of 80,000 euros.
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