The hearing between Didier Raoult and Alexander Samuel took place this Friday, October 6 in the morning at the Marseille court. The former director of the IHUm is suing this professor of molecular biology, a fierce critic of the IHUm and passionate about the fight against scientific disinformation, for defamation. The latter had published, in March 2021 on his blog, a translation of an article by the Ukrainian-German scientific journalist Leonid Schneider (targeted by the same complaint, but not indicted), who qualified Mr. Raoult as a “guru” and of “chloroquine druid” while denouncing “falsified data” in studies as well as “ostensibly illegal clinical trials” or even “financial fraud” linked to the billing of day hospitalizations at the IHUm. “They also reproach me for having added an introduction which would prove that I appropriated the text, even though these sentences come from a article from Release from which Leonid Scheider was inspired“, specifies Alexander Samuel.
Originally, Didier Raoult, his faithful right-hand man Eric Chabrière, as well as the IHUm, represented by its president Dr. Yolande Obadia [qui a démissionné de la présidence du CA en septembre 2022 avant de la quitter définitivement en en avril 2023, NDLR]had jointly filed a complaint for defamation in June 2021. But Eric Chabrière, due to failure to pay the deposit – a compulsory sum in the context of defamation trials – was excluded from the procedure. The first hearing, which was held on February 21, 2023, was postponed to this Friday, October 6. But this time again, the court ordered a postponement until… September 24, 2024, since Mr. Raoult’s lawyer, Maître Brice Grazzini, considered that he was not in a condition to plead the case. “I am disappointed because my lawyer, Maître Mokhtar Abdennouri, and I were ready,” regrets Alexander Samuel.
“This is a private matter, there is no need to intervene”
However, the audience had a big surprise in store. “The IHUm has expressed its desire to withdraw from the matter”, without specifying the reasons, reveals Alexander Samuel. According to a judicial source, even if the court has not yet validated this withdrawal, any reversal would be highly improbable. From L’Express, an internal source from the IHU confirms that the Board of Directors has indeed decided to no longer file a complaint alongside its former director against Alexander Samuel. “The IHUm had intervened in defense of Mr. Raoult for the protection of civil servants at the time when the Board of Directors was led by his disciples. But this is no longer the case. It is now considered that he “This is a private matter and there is no need to intervene,” we are told. Direct consequence: Mr. Raoult’s legal costs will therefore no longer be covered by the IHUm.
This decision could therefore have serious consequences for the former director, since the IHUm jointly filed a complaint in around ten cases. If there is no indication that the Board of Directors will withdraw from all these procedures, the report of the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS), which carried out a vast investigation within the IHUm after multiple revelations in the press, specifies that the cost of covering Mr. Raoult’s expenses by the Marseille Institute amounted, at the end of 2021, to 95,400 euros.
The vitriolic conclusions of the document, added to those equally severe of the National Agency for Health and Medicines (ANSM), highlighted an impressive series of dysfunctions, therefore major scientific misconduct. They led to the IHUm being placed under supervision and a partial reorganization of its management. Questioned by L’Express, Maître Brice Grazzini refused to comment. Alexander Samuel, for his part, welcomes the IHUm’s decision and awaits the next hearing “with confidence”.