French prosecutors have requested that journalists Catherine Crassie and Eric Laurent to be sentenced to one year in prison, and fined 15,000 euros, after they were accused of blackmailing King Mohammed VI in 2015.
The verdict in this case is scheduled to be issued by March 14.
Eric Laurent, former correspondent for “Radio France” and “Le Figaro” magazine and author of several books, said he had accepted two million euros from the Palance entourage to abandon the publicaion “embarrassing information” about King Mohammed VI.
The former journalist, who is currently 75 years old, admitted, before the Paris Criminal Court yesterday, Monday, to a “moral error”; because he “agreed to be involved in this case,” but refuted “any criminal offense.”
Catherine Crassie said she realized “the envoy of the Moroccan state seduced her with his financial offer.”
Éric Laurent and Catherine Graciet who published “the Predator King,” which Morocco banned in 2012, had contact the King ‘s private secretariat in 2015 in an effort to set up a meeting with a representative of the monarchy, attorney Hicham Naciri.
The meeting was scheduled on August 11, when Laurent told Naciri that a detrimental book against King Mohammed VI was in the coming.
The journalist claims that he was given a financial incentive not to publish the book by Naciri.
Contrarily, the kingdom asserts that the journalist requested three million euros so that he does not publish the book.
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