Valerie Pécresse, here on May 19, was not defamed by Act Up, believes justice. – PATRICK GELY / SIPA
Act Up was acquitted on Friday of defamation lawsuits brought by Valérie Pécresse, for a 2018 campaign denouncing the abolition of transport assistance for illegal aliens receiving State Medical Aid (AME). The association for the fight against AIDS, represented by its former president, appeared in April for posters, published in May and June 2018, on which appeared a portrait of the president of the regional council of Ile-de-France, with the mention “Wanted” and the keyword #pecressedelinquante.
I bring out some archives for the occasion @actupparis # PécresseDelinquante pic.twitter.com/Dkm8MMq9pP
– tite pépette (@la_craneuse) May 22, 2021
“The FN dreamed of it, Pécresse did it! Already 100 days that Valérie Pécresse does not make apply by Ile-de-France Mobilités the judgment of the administrative court obliging it to restore the right to solidarity transport to people benefiting from State medical aid ”(AME), wrote association. “By this decision, it is the bed of the HIV epidemic and is guilty of interruptions of treatment and new contaminations”, proclaimed the poster.
A measure canceled by the administrative judge
Valérie Pécresse, also president of Ile-de-France Mobilités, had adopted upon her arrival at the head of the regional executive a deliberation “excluding the benefit of the reduction to 75% of transport fares for people in an irregular situation as well. as their family ”beneficiaries of the AME. At the time of the Act Up campaign, the administrative court had annulled this deliberation, after an appeal by elected officials, unions and associations, but the regional council had appealed. The cancellation was later confirmed, forcing Valérie Pécresse to reconsider the measure.
“I am happy that the court accepted the good faith of Act Up and noted that this campaign was really part of a debate of general interest”, reacted the lawyer of the association, Me Tewfik Bouzenoune. As at the hearing, he recalled the history and the actions “punches” of the organization, “created to denounce the inertia of politicians in the face of the rise of AIDS”. “This validates that she is considered an actor in the political debate and that her voice counts,” he said.
The lawyer for the civil party, Me Vinciane De Sigy, was not reachable on Friday. “There is a will to provoke which in my opinion casts shame on the intentions of Ms. Pécresse”, she had pleaded at the hearing. “It was quite possible to criticize the decision” without “thus insulting and using excessive terms”. She stressed that Valérie Pécresse had lodged appeals at the time of the facts and that she was therefore not unlawful, considering that there was “nothing” in the file which “allows this link to be established. between elimination of a reduction on transport and new contaminations ”.