Yann Moix was acquitted of defamation after he accused his parents of violence, racism and homophobia

On Monday, the Paris Criminal Court acquitted writer Yann Mouix, whose parents attacked him on charges of insult and defamation after accusing them of violence in his youth. The parents, José and Marie José Moix, filed a complaint after the En Aparté program on Canal+, in October 2022, in which their son accused them of violence and abuse. He also criticized them for being… “racist” And “Homophobes”.

Resolution No. 17^H The Criminal Chamber of the Paris Judicial Court ruled in favor of the 56-year-old novelist. The court considered that some of his statements about violence had a basis in truth, and recognized the defendant’s right to violence and exaggeration.

The court was able to rely on a letter from José Moix to his son dating back to November 2022, which was cited at the hearing. The father wrote that when Yann Muix had an attitude that seemed unacceptable to his parents, especially when he attacked his little brother, he would receive slaps and blows. But the writer’s parents denied the systematic violence to which their son was exposed.

In court, in a very tense atmosphere, the accounts of each party were completely contradictory on all the points discussed. In front of his parents who listened to him without flinching, Yan Muix said that he was “They were harassed, beaten, and martyred.”. He admitted wishful thinking “death” From his parents. When their son left the room so as not to hear them, the latter responded with condemnation “He lies”, “Shame”, “From the novel”.

In Canal+, the writer cited several abuses that the parents forcefully refuted: locking them outside at night, taking them into the woods to simulate abandonment, and receiving… “Electrical Extension Cord Shots”or even having to look through books from your library or burn papers to prepare for competitive exams.

If it was not possible to confirm or refute any of these charges, the court considered that a conviction that would restrict Yann Moix’s freedom of expression could not be justified. “It is of course a satisfactory decision for Yann Moix, but it goes much further than that. It allows us to increase freedom of expression in the name of the importance of the public interest involved, and the absolute necessity of preventing the silencing of the narrative of such experiences.said the writer’s lawyer, Jean-Marc Fedida.

The rift between Yann Moix and the rest of his family became public knowledge after the novel’s publication in 2019 OrleansWhere the writer narrates his martyred childhood. His parents and brother Alexander, four years younger than him, were reported in the press. According to them, on the contrary, Yan Muix was the most violent against his little brother. Yann Moix was also targeted, after another TV show in 2019, with a defamation complaint from his brother Alexandre. The case ended in 2023 with a ruling by the Court of Cassation invalidating the entire procedure.