Jordan Bardella has announced a new complaint against Mediapart, this time for “forgery and use of forged documents.” The president of the Rassemblement national disputes the evidence published on October 1 by the outlet, which claims to have authenticated antisemitic messages dating from 2013. He had already initiated defamation proceedings following the newspaper’s first investigation. ()
A second complaint announced
On X, Jordan Bardella rejected the screenshots published by Mediapart, calling them “crude fabrications” and asserting that he had never made the remarks attributed to him. He believes the published evidence will not stand up in court and announced his intention to file a complaint for forgery and use of forged documents. ()
This action comes in addition to an initial defamation complaint filed against the outlet after the September 28 publication of an investigation into messages attributed to the RN president when he was a young activist. According to information reported by Le HuffPost, those initial proceedings had been initiated by his lawyer. ()
What Mediapart claims to have authenticated
On October 1, Mediapart published screenshots of Messenger conversations dating from 2013. The newspaper claims that the person Jordan Bardella was speaking with requested a copy of their exchanges from Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and that the extracted data was then authenticated by a bailiff. It states that the data makes it possible to date the conversation and establish that it was not subsequently modified. ()
Mediapart also relies on biographical details in the exchanges, such as a reference to Jordan Bardella’s mother, who was born in Italy, an interview given to Le Parisien in 2013, and a failed Sciences Po entrance examination. The outlet maintains that these clues identify the account’s user as the RN president. He continues to dispute these conclusions. ()
The published messages include antisemitic remarks and references to Alain Soral, which Mediapart attributes to Jordan Bardella. The newspaper first revealed these writings on September 28, before presenting its authentication evidence three days later. ()
Diverging political reactions
Elected representatives from the Rassemblement national have defended Jordan Bardella. Jean-Philippe Tanguy notably argued that nothing proved the messages were authentic. By contrast, Édouard Philippe said it was “virtually established” that the remarks had been made and called on the RN president and his party to draw the consequences. ()
Source: Le HuffPost: nonstop news and offbeat reporting, in France and around the world (www.huffingtonpost.fr)
Original article: View the original source
Author: Vincent Gibert
