Ariane Lavrilleux before the judge of freedoms and detention: “If we don’t protect sources, it’s the end of journalism”

Second FranceInfoon Monday 25 September, the investigative journalist Ariane Lavrilleux, co-author of a series of investigations into the complicity of the French state in a “campaign of arbitrary executions orchestrated by the Egyptian dictatorship”, he was summoned to the High Court of Paris to be presented before the judge of liberties and detention (JLD).

Last week, the journalist from Disclosed she had already been placed in police custody for 48 hours and her home had been searched for 10 hours. Hateful coercive methods that have sparked a great wave of consensus, especially within the profession, to condemn this attack on press freedom and the protection of sources.

“If we don’t protect sources it’s the end of journalism”

As FranceInfo recalls, the journalist is the subject of proceedings for ” disclosure of a national defense secret »:

On Tuesday 19 September, his house was searched at 6am by nine French intelligence agents, armed with ultra-sophisticated surveillance equipment, including three computer containers capable of copying tons of data in just a few minutes. Objective: track down this journalist’s sources. Ariane Lavrilleux is today accused of having revealed a national defense secret: a secret military operation, which it is easy to understand that the State would have wanted to remain secret since it allowed the general public to discover how France, by providing information to Egypt, helped repress and bomb its population.

“Ariane Lavrilleux: the journalist presented to a judge of freedoms and detention”, franceInfo 09/25/2023

The judge of freedoms and detention will have to rule on Wednesday on the validity of the seizures made in the journalist’s home. “If we don’t protect sources it’s the end of journalism”Ariane Lavrilleux was outraged during a press conference last Thursday.

In this case, in fact, both the right to protect one’s sources when one is a journalist and the right to have access to quality information on topics of general interest to citizens are at stake.

If a French judge decides that the documents seized from a journalist can be used against her and her sources, who will still dare to run the risk of revealing information that deserves to be known by all? Will public officials, state agents, forced to speak because they can no longer remain silent, still dare to report the criminal acts of which they are aware? Will journalists still be able to investigate France’s foreign policy, its arms contracts and many other topics?

“Ariane Lavrilleux: the journalist presented to a judge of freedoms and detention”, franceInfo 09/25/2023

Let us remember that, in a few weeks, the ” General informations », promised by President Emmanuel Macron, whose two terms in office have been marked by an increase in attacks on press freedom.