According to the court, “the elements produced do not demonstrate that he is the author” abusive and defamatory remarks made, in 2021, on the Twitter account @LeProfessione9 targeting Magali Carcopino-Tusoli, doctor at the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, and her husband Xavier Carcopino-Tusoli, head of department at the Nord de Marseille hospital Marseilles.
In the state of release, each of them will have to pay Eric Chabrière compensation of 2,000 euros for the costs he incurred to defend himself in court.
This procedure initiated by Mr. and Mrs. Carcopino-Tusoli once morest the man who was sometimes nicknamed the “IHU Sheriff” for his frenzy of tweets defending the IHU Méditerranée Infection, then directed by Pr Raoult, had experienced a rebound in March, on the occasion of a reopening of the debates.
The couple’s lawyer Philippe Carlini then produced a judgment from the Paris court in which the company Twitter communicated in particular the telephone number associated with the account @LeProfessionne9, known as “Le Professionnel”, a mobile number which is indeed that of Eric Chabrière .
“My phone number has been public for years and anyone can create an account with it”had defended the latter.
Only a judicial investigation would have made it possible to identify with certainty the holder of this account, deplored his lawyer Ludovic Heringuez. According to Me Carlini, validation, activation or suspension codes or service messages from Twitter might only be sent to Mr. Chabrière’s phone. “But he never said he had received curious messages”observed the lawyer.
During a first hearing in January, the defender of the Carcopino-Tusoli couple, who claimed 10,000 euros each in damages, had pointed out that on three occasions, Eric Chabrière had assumed to be the holder of the @LeProfessionne9 account, recalling in particular that the owner of this account had replied “Yes yes” to a user asking him “So are you @EChabriere?”.
At the hearing, Me Heringuez had denounced “a small-batch shop that wants to destroy people’s reputations”.
During the Covid health crisis, Ms. Carcopino-Tusoli pleaded for vaccination, unlike her father who advocated treatment with hydroxychloroquine.