Clearstream wins libel suit against investigative journalist targeted from all sides

Reporters Without Borders condemned a Paris court's decision today finding investigative journalist Denis Robert guilty of libelling the Luxembourg-based finance house Clearstream when he called it the “lungs of parallel finance” in an interview for the weekly magazine VSD on 24 May. He was ordered to pay 1,500 euros in damages and 2,000 euros in costs. “We are disturbed by this verdict and by the growing number of lawsuits being brought against Robert over his allegations relating to Clearstream,” the press freedom organisation said. “He is being targeted from all sides in an attempt to silence him, and we condemn this.” French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is among those who have sued Robert, a former Libération reporter, in the past five years over his investigations into Clearstream, which have been the subject of two books (Révélations and La Boîte Noire) and two documentaries broadcast on the Canal + TV station. Read the interview with Denis Robert for the blogmedias :