Marie Portolano defamation hearing set in Paris as Pierre Ménès seeks delay | OneFootball

Marie Portolano is due in a Paris court on Monday to face a defamation complaint from Pierre Ménès, though the hearing could be delayed after a request from the former consultant and his lawyer.

According to L'Équipe, the case is listed before the 17th chamber of the Paris criminal court. Ménès, 63, filed his action three months after the March 2024 publication of Portolano’s book Je suis la femme du plateau, released by Stock.

His complaint targets two passages in which Portolano, 40, recounts allegations without naming him, describing a figure said to have exercised a droit de cuissage and to have touched women as he pleased. Elsewhere, she writes that the man admitted doing so.

Portolano, now presenter of La Maison des Maternelles on France 2, accuses Ménès of lifting her skirt and touching her buttocks off air but in front of the Canal Football Club audience in late August 2016. Ménès says he does not remember the alleged incident. In 2023 he received a two-month suspended prison sentence in another sexual assault case and was acquitted of two other accusations.

Ménès has asked for an adjournment, citing a long scheduled appointment with a specialist in Rennes, his new lawyer Chloé Redon has said. She argues the request is reasonable and that opponents are attempting to invert roles.

Portolano will attend, her counsel Christophe Bigot has confirmed. He calls the medical reason a pretext, formally opposes any postponement and wants the case heard on Monday. Ménès is also due to be tried on the merits of this file on 16 November.

Source: L'Équipe

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