Daniel Riolo acquitted over ‘liar’ remarks about Didier Deschamps | OneFootball

Daniel Riolo was cleared of defamation against France head coach Didier Deschamps by the 17th chamber of the Paris criminal court on Friday, after on-air comments including calling him a ‘liar’.

According to Le Progres, judges ruled the remarks were pejorative and could understandably have hurt the civil party, but they did not amount to defamation. The court said the comments were framed as an anathema, expressed in hurtful terms, intended to discredit and amounted to a value judgement and a trial of intent.

Deschamps was ordered to pay 254 euros in procedural costs. Neither man attended the hearing and lawyers for both sides declined to comment. By early afternoon, Deschamps’ camp had not decided whether to appeal.

Deschamps had pursued the case for defamation and harm to honour. Riolo’s on-air comments concerned Karim Benzema’s injury, which ruled the striker out of the 2022 World Cup. He alleged Deschamps concealed the truth about Benzema’s departure from the tournament.

Other contested remarks linked Deschamps to what Riolo described as all the shady affairs in French football, citing the 1993 VA-OM corruption case during his Marseille spell and doping issues at Juventus, where he played. The court said these did not impute sufficiently precise facts.

Testifying on 20 November, Riolo said he was making a general point and had not accused Deschamps of involvement in VA-OM or of doping at Juventus. He stressed L’After Foot on RMC is an opinion show with an audience of 13.9 million across live and podcast.

Deschamps told the court he could not let such comments pass because they attacked his honesty and honour.

Source: Le Progres