His lawyer denounced "political censorship." Eric Zemmour claimed three million euros in damages from his former publisher Albin Michel for abusive breach of contract, in a trial on Wednesday. In 2021, the publishing house had given up publishing a sixth book by the polemicist, La France n'a pas dit son dernier mot, after having published five others. She had invoked the author's intention to "become a politician" and "make his next book a key part of his candidacy" for the presidential election, where he was eliminated in the first round.

Spelling mistakes

Eric Zemmour, via his company, SARL Rubempré, brought the case before the Paris Judicial Court. He was not at the hearing. "Albin Michel makes a unilateral termination" of a publishing contract signed in 2015, and this "termination is illegal," Arnaud de Senilhes, the lawyer of the founder of the far-right party Reconquest, told the court.

"Deprived of a publisher, it was impossible to find a publisher in the time allotted to release this book on the date it held, in September 2021," he said. "We had to invent ourselves as a publisher." Mr. de Senilhes noted that if it had been edited by Albin Michel, the book "would not have counted a spelling error from the first page," which "prompted dozens of articles."

A "campaign book"

The publishing house alleges that Eric Zemmour did not comply with the contractual deadlines, namely to submit a manuscript in 2019. But in the spring of 2021, when no beginning of manuscript was transmitted, "suddenly Mr. Zemmour tells us: it's going to be a campaign book," explained Albin Michel's lawyer, Christophe Bigot. "Mr. Zemmour cannot impose this on his publisher, while the contractual deadline for delivery has expired (...) Editions Albin Michel answer: no, we are not interested in that, "he added. For Albin Michel, "all this has been remote-controlled", Eric Zemmour preferring to self-publish because "he sees the full potential of his book."

The book sold 272,000 copies in 2021. Albin Michel estimates that instead of earning a million euros with this house, by selling 300,000 copies, the author pocketed "about" twice as much by publishing it with Rubempré editions. The procedure made it possible to learn that Eric Zemmour was assisted in the writing of his works by the historian Jacques de Saint Victor. The judgement was reserved until 25 October.

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  • Lawsuit