FCBARCELONA.CAT

15.01.2008 12:17

'Le Monde' receives sentence

www.fcbarcelona.cat

Barcelona Court of First Instance no 35 has found French newspaper Le Monde and journalist Stéphane Mandard guilty of publishing incorrect information linking FC Barcelona to doping activities.

The following is the full statement that FC Barcelona has made following the closure of the case:

“Barcelona Court of First Instance no 35 reached its verdict on January 10 regarding FC Barcelona’s case against the newspaper Le Monde (Société Éditrice du Monde) and the journalist Stéphane Mandard as a consequence of the publication on December 7 and 8 of 2006 of reports that associated FC Barcelona to doping activities during the 2005/2006 season.

The verdict accepted the lack of veracity contained in the published article and therefore the existence of illegitimate intromission against the right to honour of FC Barcelona by Le Monde and Mr. Mandard, and orders Le Monde to rectify the news article under the terms requested by FC Barcelona in the month of December 2006. Thus, FC Barcelona is satisfied that its terms have been met by the publication of a rectification of the article, which must state that there is in fact no link between FC Barcelona and Mr. Eufemiano Fuentes or doping activities.

Also, as a result of the damages incurred as a consequence of the illegitimate intromission of the right to honour of FC Barcelona, the judgement has sentenced the newspaper Le Monde and Mr. Stéphane Mandard to pay the club the amount of 300,000 euros and to publish the verdict as dictated in both the printed and digital versions of Le Monde and in the two most widely read newspapers in Catalonia.

The verdict is not definitive, as it can be subject to an appeal to the Provincial Audience of Barcelona.

Barcelona, 15 January 2008