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Friday March 29, 2024

French writers go on trial in Moroccan king blackmail case

Morocco accuses the journalist of offering to halt the book´s publication, originally due in early 2016

By Web Desk
January 17, 2023
French writers go on trial in Moroccan king blackmail case
French writers go on trial in Moroccan king blackmail case

Paris: Two French journalists went on trial Monday in France on charges of trying to blackmail the king of Morocco over allegedly demanding money to hush purportedly damaging revelations about him.

Eric Laurent, 75, and Catherine Graciet, 48, are accused of demanding two million euros ($2 million) in 2015 in exchange for halting the publication of a book about the Moroccan royal family.

Both writers, who face up to five years in jail and 75,000 euros in fines if found guilty, have denied any wrongdoing and say it was a lawyer representing the Moroccan royal family who first offered them the money.

Laurent in court on Monday admitted to an "ethical error", a "disaster" in having accepted to "let myself be caught up in this affair", but denied having committed "any criminal offence".

Co-author Graciet said that the Moroccan envoy "seduced me with his financial offer, I took the plunge and I regret it".

The writers had already published a highly critical book on King Mohammed VI in 2012 titled "The Predator King", which was banned in Morocco.

Ahead of the planned publication of a second volume, Laurent in August 2015 met a lawyer representing the monarchy at the bar of a Parisian hotel, and warned him it contained potentially embarrassing revelations for the monarchy.

Morocco accuses the journalist of offering to halt the book´s publication, originally due in early 2016, in exchange for three million euros. He allegedly later reduced that amount to two million following negotiations.

But Laurent says the lawyer representing Morocco was the one who suggested a financial deal to prevent the information from getting out.

"He´s the one who suggests it," he said, recounting the scene in court. (AFP)