Facts
On October 13, 1977, an article was published in the newspaper "Le Nouvelliste et Feuille d'avis du Valais", signed by L., examining the independence of the members of the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission appointed on October 10, 1977 by the Grand Council of Valais to investigate the "Savro affair". The article notably questioned whether the Chairman of the Commission, [B.], would be at ease to conduct the investigations regarding the acquisition by the State of the land intended for the College of Sion, land sold by G., the Chairman's brother-in-law, under conditions criticized in the Cantonal Parliament.
On October 15, 1977, the newspaper published a reply from the author of the article, specifying that he had not intended to discredit the Chairman of the Commission, but simply to ask whether the latter would be at ease to investigate an "affair" denounced in the Grand Council by the Socialist Deputy R., in which a member of the Chairman's family would have, according to the Deputy, "attempted to deceive the Confederation through a bogus project" and then made a significant profit.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal considers that the disputed articles constitute accounts of the public debates of the Grand Council, within the meaning of Art. 27 para. 5 of the Swiss Criminal Code, and therefore benefit from the press privilege. Indeed, the articles aim to comment on and criticize the decision taken by the Grand Council to appoint [B.] as Chairman of the Inquiry Commission, referring exclusively to elements drawn from the parliamentary debate itself.
However, the Federal Tribunal notes that the articles contain elements that do not correspond to what was said in the Grand Council. In…