FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2014 file photo, Denis Baupin, a prominent Green Party member and former Paris city official, takes part in a climate change demonstration in Paris. A French court ruled Friday April 19, 20119 that six women who accused the former French lawmaker of sexual misconduct and two journalists who reported the allegations were not guilty of defamation.(AP Photo, File)
PARIS – A French court cleared of defamation charges six women who accused a former French lawmaker of sexual misconduct and the journalists who reported the allegations.
The court ordered Friday the former lawmaker, Denis Baupin, to pay 1,000 euros ($1,120) in damages to each of the 12 persons he sued.
In May 2016, investigative website Mediapart and radio station France Inter published and broadcast accounts from 14 women who alleged Baupin had groped, sexted and otherwise harassed them.
The prominent Green Party member then resigned as vice president of the lower House of Parliament. He denied wrongdoing and launched a defamation lawsuit against the six women who were identified in the reports, some witnesses and journalists.
The case had been under particular scrutiny in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
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