On 29 June, the appeals court in Paris found that Blast’s reporting was defamatory but did not award BHL damages or order the article to be taken down, as per his request.
The 17th chamber of Paris’ criminal court had dismissed the case in September 2021 following BHL’s defamation complaint against a former Libération journalist, but he appealed the decision.
They have linked one of the most important struggles of my life [the universality of human rights and the right to democracy] to obscure and infamous stories of money
The online media platform Blast had published a piece accusing BHL of accepting a €9.1m ($9m) cheque from Qatar to support the war in Libya.