French foreign rights manager questioned by London police

Éditions La Fabrique foreign rights manager Ernest Moret, who was arrested on his way to London Book Fair, was interrogated about ‘anti-government’ authors in the catalogue of the French publishing house for which he works, reports the Guardian.

Moret was approached by two plainclothes officers at St Pancras station after arriving by train from Paris. After six hours of questioning, Moret was arrested for alleged obstruction in refusing to disclose the passcodes to his phone and computer.

In a joint statement, Paris-based Éditions la Fabrique and London-based publisher Verso confirmed Moret has been released on bail, but expressed concern about the questions he was asked by police.

Moret was ‘interrogated for several hours and asked some very disturbing questions’, said the publishers, including about his view on pension reform in France and his opinion on the French government and president Emmanuel Macron.

‘Perhaps most seriously, during his interrogation he was asked to name the “anti-government” authors in the catalogue of the publishing house La Fabrique,’ the publishers said. ‘None of these questions should be relevant to a British police officer.’

‘[To] ask the representative of a publishing house questions, in a counter-terrorism framework, about the opinions of its authors, is to take the logic of political censorship and repression of dissenting currents of thought even further,’ the publishers said. ‘In a context of the authoritarian escalation of the French government faced by social movements, this element is chilling.’

The Metropolitan Police confirmed Moret had been released on bail but would not discuss what may have been raised during police interviews. Moret’s phone and computer remain in police custody, and he will have to return to London in May.

Category: International news