Author for several months of videos entitled #ThionviLeaks in which he denounces an “unhealthy proximity”, even “corruption”, between certain elected officials from the Thionville town hall, led by Pierre Cuny, and actors from the world of real estate, Yan Rutili appeared this Monday, September 11, in the morning, before the judicial court of the Moselle city for infringement of the right to image and private life. The complainant ? Stéphane Noël, boss of Liveone of the main defendants.
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Thionville, your merciless universe
Here, there is no question of studying the substance of the subject, but rather the form with this question: does the broadcast of certain sequences from the evening of Stéphane Noël’s 50th birthday organized in Marrakech from December 7 to 9, 2018 fall under the infringement of the latter’s image rights and privacy?
A bullet found at his home
To defend his interests, Stéphane Noël relied on a tenor of the bar, Me Olivier D’Antin. Lawyer for Dominique de Villepin in the Clearstream affair, the man is considered a “big name”. Slender, with mid-length salt and pepper hair, the man speaks loudly. From the outset, he specifies that “usually”, these files pit “popular magazines or sensationalist publishers against well-known personalities”. However, he affirms that his client is “in terms of notoriety, an anonymous person even though he has important responsibilities within the framework of his company”.
In the process, Me Olivier D’Antin attempts to discredit Yan Rutili’s approach. According to him, this would only serve to satisfy “his very great appetite for notoriety and image” and mocks this propensity to consider himself “the main opponent of the mayor of Thionville”. He considers him “narcissistic”. “You see,” he said to the attention of the magistrates, “after your hearing he will organize a press conference…” Press conference during which Yan Rutili announced that he had filed a pre-complaint on July 25 following the filing shot at his apartment during his absence. All without, he says, the slightest break-in. Enough to make him say that “if we come to this style of approach, it’s because I must annoy some people…”
Me Olivier D’Antin assures that his client made “the choice not to expose himself publicly to notoriety”. Enough to make him say that as a result, “the law applies with particularly strong rigor the rules of respect for their private lives and their dignity.”
“An atmosphere that we imagine that of a nightclub”
Of the three episodes broadcast to date by Yan Rutili, Me Olivier D’Antin has retained two. The first which “99% is not the subject of this debate”, but which would confirm the supposed quest for notoriety of an accused sensitive, he says, “to a conspiratorial vein which he likes”. “We see Mr. Rutili on the steps of the courthouse in Paris, very happy with himself who explains that he is being indicted. Very happy because he will be able to defend himself in Paris while in Thionville, you imagine the powerful, with enormous influence on the judges…”
“Conspirator! Coming from a lawyer of his caliber, Me D’Antin could have refrained from such a description,” Yan Rutili is indignant. “It’s really not elegant. But hey, if his desire is to discredit me…”
He (Rutili) is very good at images. He does his thing well…
Me Olivier D’Antin
Lawyer of Stéphane Noël
So 1% remains. This moment when Yan Rutili, to announce the second episode, and “to make the fans here present salivate”, announces “something fantastic” to them with the aim of denouncing “the collusions between private promotional interests and the Thionville town hall “. But now, in his teaser, Yan Rutili shows Stéphane Noël, dressed all in white, “in an atmosphere that we imagine that of a nightclub” performing a dance step. A misstep.
Of the #ThionviLeaks, Me Olivier D’Antin has not lost a beat. He even allows himself a compliment: “He is very good at images. He’s got his thing done well…”
In the second episode, Me Olivier D’Antin presents Véronique Schmit, deputy mayor of Thionville, as the “main target” of Yan Rutili who, according to him, does not bother with details. “It is not logical to specify that Madame Schmit is the wife of Monsieur Noël’s main collaborator (editor’s note: general director of Conseillère Immobilière Luxembourgeoise and director of development and communications of the Habiter Promotion Group) and presents her as a friend of Stéphane Noël.” No doubt the confusion of genres.
Yachts, poker and a Mexican accent
There is another woman. If his face is hidden, his voice suggests, according to Mr Olivier D’Antin, “a slightly Eastern accent which awakens a certain number of feelings”. For the record, and according to our information, this voice is that of a “double” who reads the testimony of a source of whom Yan Rutili wished to preserve anonymity. “And it’s a… Mexican accent,” continues Me Poudampa.
In the sound extract, included in the file, we hear this woman describe Stéphane Noël as “charming”, “a smooth talker” before evoking his “yachts in Monaco”, his stays in “the palaces”, his taste for “poker”, its “room all year round Seven above the Amnéville casino”, but also “its tournaments in Vegas, Monaco, Marrakech…”
Marrakech, precisely. Was this evening organized on the occasion of Stéphane Noël’s 50th birthday private or, as Yan Rutili believes, did it constitute a “professional seminar”? Me Olivier D’Antin brushes aside this “fairly subtle idea” out of hand. “There are Monsieur Noël’s children, his partner, his parents…” before releasing an unstoppable argument: “I don’t think that with the presence of Gilbert Montagné we are there in a professional framework…”
If Mr. Christmas considered these images to be private, they should not be posted online.
Me Vincent Poudampa
He calls out to Yan Rutili
This Monday’s hearing also rested on this question: was this video private or public? Me Olivier D’Antin mentions a WeTransfer file. “It was only accessible to certain people. That Mr. Rutili, through a gutter link, had access to this video via this WeTransfer link is one thing, but to say that it was public is to show great bad faith.”
“Mr. Rutili found this video online. Online with a WeTransfer link relayed on Facebook. If I were Mr. Christmas, I would file a complaint, but against the company that put the link online…” Enough to make the defense say that we are here in the presence of a “tacit consent of the broadcast images in public space. If Mr. Claus considered that these images were of a private nature, they should not be posted online.
Yan Rutili refutes this attack on privacy and image rights under the cover of a much higher fight, that of the general interest. “This thesis allows Mr. Rutili to present himself as a white knight,” declares Me Olivier D’Antin. A bit mockingly, he parodies the accused: “I have things to say. I want to demonstrate that this whole local, inbred backwater is playing with politics and economic interests in an unbearable interplay…”
An ill-founded qualification?
“The general interest,” asks Mr. Olivier D’Antin, “is to show someone dancing to make fun of them? No, the general interest is the sum of individual interests.” “My colleague,” retorts Me Vincent Poudampa, “considers that it is futile to see Mr. Stéphane Noël dancing, that it seems stupid, which is not very nice for his client… But in reality, it illustrates the supposed connivance between him and certain elected officials. Is it true ? Is this false? This is not where justice will decide.”
Me Vincent Poudampa considers that this file is “excessively fascinating”, but that the “qualification is ill-founded”. “We cannot come into the area of the right to privacy if the images serve as support for a statement which must be judged on the basis of the right to the press.”
The lawyer, registered with the Bordeaux bar, continues: “There is no dispute over the fact that the videos which are being debated have as their object the journalistic denunciation of facts which, if they prove to be false, must then be the subject of a defamation action.” A complaint which, therefore, would refer all the actors to the criminal court.
The fact that few elected officials gave their support to Yan Rutili may raise questions. There is a form of omerta…
Gilles Wobedo
Member of the opposition at Hayange town hall, support of Yan Rutili
To find out if the festivities linked to this 50th anniversary – in which around a hundred guests participated – were of a personal or professional nature, Me Vincent Poudampa suggests that Stéphane Noël provide “proof that the bill for this stay in Marrakech has been paid with his own funds and not those of his company…”
“A politician prevents himself from going too far and if there is one lesson to teach Mr. Rutili, this is it.” The price of the lesson? In his pleading, Me Olivier D’Antin claims “20,000 euros for damages and 2,500 euros for his legal fees”, but also the withdrawal of the first two episodes of #ThionviLeaks. Under penalty of 1,000 euros per day of delay.
When leaving the court, around ten people came to support Yan Rutili. Among them, Gilles Wobedo, member of the opposition at Hayange town hall. “It’s no small thing to take such a step. It takes courage to attack very powerful, very rich people, capable of paying for the best lawyers in the country. His approach deserves the support of all of us, citizens and taxpayers. This affair highlights the question of possible corruption of elected officials. Many mayors work with real estate developers and, very often, we can wonder about the nature of the relationships that may exist between them. Moreover, the fact that few elected officials gave their support to Yan Rutili may raise questions. There is a form of omerta…”
The announcement of the filing of a pre-complaint following the receipt of a 22 caliber long rifle bullet would seem to confirm this impression. There is no question of making Yan Rutili back down: “Let the message be clear: there is no question of silencing me. I continue the fight!”
Judgment of the first of the many trials awaiting him, on November 13.
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