Xavier Azalbert, the publication director of France-Soir, was dismissed on Friday from the defamation lawsuits he had brought against the emergency doctor Mathias Wargon. The 17th chamber of the Paris Court did not consider the six remarks made by the doctor, head of the emergency department of the Delafontaine hospital in Saint-Denis, during the broadcast to be defamatory. polo news September 2, 2021.
That evening, the doctor came live to react on the BFMTV set to an anonymous column published on the France-Soir site, in which a “resistant doctor” defended Didier Raoult and attacked pell-mell at the ‘Order of Physicians, to the government or even to certain doctors, some of whom are named – Mathias Wargon, he was not. Virulent, the tribune ended with these sentences: “A trial will have to be held. The Widow grows impatient. The use of the expression the Widow, nickname of the guillotine, had caused a stir among the doctors. France-Soir then defended itself, arguing that it was an allusion to women who had been widowed because of Covid-19.
“A lively exchange”
On BFMTV this evening in September 2021, Mathias Wargon analyzes the text of France-Soir. The sequence, entitled “Antivax in the face of the anger of doctors” is available for replay. Sometimes lively, the doctor faces Xavier Azalbert that evening.
This Friday, the judges therefore decided that the comments made by Mathias Wargon were not defamatory towards Xavier Azalbert *, after a hearing which took place in April. “The comments made are part of a lively exchange, during which the defendant [Mathias Wargon] several times cut off his interlocutors to take Xavier Azalbert to task, by carrying out a critical analysis of the said platform and its supposed consequences, ”estimated the judges.
“A virulent, but legitimate criticism”
The court considers that the remarks made by Mathias Wargon either did not directly target Xavier Azalbert, or fall under a “personal and subjective interpretation” of the forum which had appeared on the France-Soir site and which was the subject of the ‘issue polo news that night.
“This decision validates that we have the right to publicly criticize France-Soir, react to 20 minutes masters Tiphaine Mary and Laura Ben Kemoun, lawyers for Mathias Wargon. It is important for the doctors who have worked on the Covid. The court recognizes “a virulent, but legitimate criticism”, they believe.
* Contacted, Xavier Azalbert’s lawyer had not responded to our request at the time of publishing this article. We will add his reaction when it reaches us.