It is a rare arrest in France, as well as in most Western European countries. The independent journalist Arianne Lavrilleux She was arrested on Tuesday morning and held at a police station in Marseille for about two days. Despite his release on wednesday night, this case has generated outrage in the neighboring country, especially in the journalistic sector. It has reopened the controversy about the battered relations that Emmanuel Macron’s Government maintains with a significant part of information professionals, denounced for having revealed information of public interest and beaten by the police in multiple demonstrations.
Lavrilleux’s arrest occurred within the framework of a judicial investigation by the French intelligence services for a series of articles by this reporter in the Disclose research medium. In it, he made a series of revelations about the involvement of French secret agents in the Sirli military operation in Egypton the sale of 30 Rafale aircraft to the Egyptian regime of Abdel Fattá al Sisi, from French war material to Russia that is being used in the war in Ukraine or on the arms trade with Saudi Arabia. All of this work earned Lavrilleux a nomination in 2022 for the Albert London Award, the most prestigious journalistic award in the neighboring country.
“Persecute a journalist”
Despite this, the French prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into Lavrilleux and Disclose in August 2022 for violation of defense secrecy. It is a crime punishable in France with sentences of up to 5 years in prison and fines of 75,000 euros. The internal security agency (DGSI) is in charge of the case. In addition to her arrest for 39 hours, security forces inspected the journalist’s home. “Nine agents from the intelligence services and magistrates who are normally in charge of anti-terrorist investigations showed up at my house,” Lavrilleux denounced this Thursday at a press conference at the headquarters of the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in Paris.
The reporter has criticized that they treat her like a “criminal” for simply having done her job as an investigative reporter. “Normally, they are dedicated to preventing attacks. These brilliant brains were mobilized for months to persecute a journalist, its sources (…). “This is an extreme violation of the freedom of information and the protection of journalistic sources,” lamented Lavrilleux, who also collaborates with the digital newspaper MediapartMagazine Le Point and radio stations RFI and RTL. In addition to her, the magistrates questioned a retired militarywho could be charged.
🔴 [DIRECT] Suivez our press conference with @AriaLavrilleux, released after 39 hours from view by the DGSI. Avec @Disclose_ngo et @RSF_inter.
◻️ FB https://t.co/prGpm6kwCz
◻️ YT https://t.co/JU8hHvXRT4 pic.twitter.com/pIhO4tgl7K— Disclose (@Disclose_ngo) September 21, 2023
RSF has denounced an “exceptional procedure.” “These interventions represent a serious violation of the principle of secrecy of sources,” he lamented in a statement. Journalist organizations and leftist groups called rallies on Wednesday in support of the detained journalist. The Socialist Party has regretted that this arrest occurs in “a context of general decline in freedom of the press in France”.
Macron’s complicated relationship with journalists
Beyond the well-known case of Julian Assange, repressed very harshly by the United States and the United Kingdom due to the Wikileaks revelations in 2010, the arrests of journalists for providing information of public interest are rare in Western European countries. More common are those of the alert launchers, like the exiled Edward Snowden or the Portuguese Rui Pinto (for Football Leaks), threatened with harsh legal punishment for their leaks. The French secret services already They had interrogated three other journalists in 2019 of Disclose for revelations about French weapons being used in the Yemen war.
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However, the Lavrilleux case has been perceived in several French newsrooms as the last straw in the deterioration of freedom of information in France – a country renowned for the plurality and quality of its media – during Macron’s presidency. . “Far from being an isolated episode, the arrest of Arianne Lavrilleux increases the endless list of violations of press freedom, which has not stopped growing since 2017”criticized this week the journalist Ellen Salvi, of Mediapartwhich followed presidential news between 2017 and 2022.
Despite presenting himself as a “liberal” leader; and that his emergence in 2017 was favored by benevolent treatment by most of the media, Macron’s arrival at the Elysée coincided with restrictions on journalists who follow presidential and governmental news. Since then, he has prioritized the desire for corporate communication to take precedence over journalistic information. They have been common calls from ministers to media or the complaints (or threats thereof) against those media that leaked sensitive (but also less relevant) information, such as the Benalla case. “During the last few years, attacks have multiplied.” against freedom of the press, “especially during Macron’s presidency,” the detained journalist has denounced.