Facts
The appellant, [A.], is the editorial director of the site "C.ch". On 8 March 2019, he published an article entitled "The TF condemns [B.] for having evaded taxes of CHF 267'609.-", whereas the judgment of the Federal Court in question did not concern tax evasion, nor a conviction for this offense, but a dispute over the accounting of an advance on indemnities that was the subject of a tax reassessment following a usual procedure.
The Public Prosecutor's Office of the canton of Valais requested the indictment of [A.] for defamation. Judge I of the district of Sierre rejected the request made by [B.] to extend the indictment to art. 174 SCC and 322bis SCC cum 28 SCC. By judgment of 11 October 2021, Judge I of the district of Sierre found [A.] guilty of defamation and sentenced him to a pecuniary penalty.
Court I of the Cantonal Court of Valais rejected A.'s appeal and partially admitted B.'s appeal. It found [A.] guilty of failure to oppose a publication constituting an offense (art. 322bis SCC) instead of defamation (art. 173 ch. 1 SCC) and sentenced him to a pecuniary penalty.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the prerequisites for the application of art. 322bis SCC, in particular the commission of a primary offense, publication in a media outlet, consumption of the offense by publication, and the inability to discover the original author.
It considered that the statements made in the disputed article were of a defamatory nature and that the publication on the site "C.ch" constituted an offense within the meaning of art. 28 al. 1 SCC.
The Federal Court also…