Overview

• On October 16, the 14th criminal chamber in Bobigny annulled the citation to appear in a defamation suit brought by historians Jean‑Marc Berlière and René Fiévet.
• The case was dismissed before any discussion of the merits after the defense cited defects in jurisdiction, the legal basis, and service of the summons, and the prosecutor supported nullity.
• Berlière and Fiévet, co-authors of the 2023 book Histoire d’une falsification, had sued Michèle Riot‑Sarcey and Natacha Coquery over a November 12, 2024 CVUH article challenging their theses.
• The contested book argues that Vichy authorities protected French Jews while deportations targeted foreigners, a line critics describe as a revival of revisionist narratives.
• The CVUH and the defendants characterized the suit as a gag procedure, and the presiding judge remarked that such historical debates should occur in academic or public venues rather than criminal court.