Paris authorizes defamation lawsuit against Rachida Dati

Paris – 17/07/2026: At the city hall of the French capital, a political dispute has turned into a legal conflict. On Friday, the Conseil de Paris authorized Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire to file a defamation lawsuit against Rachida Dati on behalf of the City of Paris. According to sources close to Gregoire, the lawsuit is expected to be filed in court in the coming days.

The trigger was several statements by the mayor of the 7th arrondissement and Gregoire’s former opponent in the municipal election. On May 18, Dati wrote on X that Gregoire had known since 2015 about information provided by the mayor of the 6th arrondissement, Jean-Pierre Lecoq; nothing had happened in ten years. She thereby questioned his role in the affair involving allegations of violence in Paris’s childcare sector.

On May 26, Dati intensified her criticism. She accused the former team of Anne Hidalgo and Emmanuel Gregoire of knowingly transferring suspected sex offenders from one school to another and of failing to involve the justice system. Dati also maintains that the city could be criminally liable because of its responsibility for hiring childcare staff.

The city council sees these statements differently. According to AFP, the adopted resolution states that the claims damage the honor and reputation of the city because they portray Paris as an institution that knowingly facilitates sexual offenses and has organized their cover-up. The planned lawsuit therefore concerns not the investigation of the incidents themselves, but the legal assessment of these specific public accusations.

Gregoire and Dati were absent from the debate, as the rules of procedure require for such deliberations. Opposition representatives described the move as an attempt at intimidation and criticized the fact that the city, and therefore taxpayers, would finance the lawsuit. Jean-Pierre Lecoq called it an attempt to settle scores. Left-wing opposition politician Sophia Chikirou urged Gregoire to pursue any possible lawsuit personally rather than in the name of the municipality.

Separately, the examination of the allegations in the childcare sector remains a central issue. Right-wing and centrist council members, as well as Chikirou’s group, informed Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau in June under Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. They asked for possible responsibilities within the city administration to be examined. This referral is not a judicial finding and does not replace a criminal decision.

The city had already established a cross-party information and assessment mission. Its report is due no later than December 20, 2026. An independent commission chaired by former juvenile judge Antoine Garapon has also been created. Whether the planned defamation lawsuit will be admitted and how a court will assess Dati’s statements remains open.