Christophe Galtier filed a complaint on Friday April 21 against Julien Fournier, former football director of OGC Nice as well as two journalists, Daniel Riolo and Romain Molina, for defamation and endangerment by disseminating information. Contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed that a complaint from the Paris Saint-Germain coach had been received at the national center for the fight against online hate.
Christophe Galtier, suspected of having made discriminatory remarks during his time at OGC Nice, has also filed another complaint for harassment and death threats against X, according to his lawyer, Olivier Martin.
“We hope that the Paris prosecutor will act with the same speed as the Nice prosecutor so that Christophe Galtier gets out of this case as quickly as possible,” he told AFP on Friday, adding that his client does not had not yet been heard by investigators from the Nice judicial police.
Preliminary investigation and searches
In an email addressed to the management of the Nice club revealed by the independent journalist Romain Molina then RMC, – which AFP could not authenticate -, the former director of OGC Nice, Julien Fournier, with whom Galtier maintained execrable relations, reported comments that he attributes to the PSG coach: “He then replied that I had to take into account the reality of the city and that indeed we could not have as much of blacks and Muslims in the team” and “he told me of his desire to change the team in depth, also specifying that he wanted to limit the number of Muslim players as much as possible”.
A preliminary investigation was opened by the Nice prosecutor’s office for suspicion of “discrimination based on an alleged race or affiliation to a religion”, and searches took place last Friday at the premises of OGC Nice.
In addition, the president of OGC Nice, Jean-Pierre Rivère, told L’Equipe and Nice-Matin on Thursday that he had been interviewed by investigators this week. “I have already been auditioned, I have given all the elements that I considered to have in my possession. Everyone will do the same. It was really important to protect the group, which was not easy during this period,” he said.
