Freedom of Expression Decree: Patrick Laurent Acknowledges the Need for Legislation but Criticizes a Biased Text

As the December 18 decree continues to stir debate, lawyer Patrick Laurent analyzes the text, caught between the need to regulate freedom of expression and the risk of infringing on liberties.

Roobens Isma
22 Jan 2026 — Lecture : 3 min.
Freedom of Expression Decree: Patrick Laurent Acknowledges the Need for Legislation but Criticizes a Biased Text

Recul des libertés de la presse

The decree regulating the exercise of freedom of expression and providing for the prevention and repression of defamation and press offenses, published in Le Moniteur on December 18, continues to cause controversy within society. Deemed ill-timed by some and liberticidal by others, the text straddles the desire to genuinely regulate the exercise of freedom of expression and a tendency to silence dissenting voices—going so far as to jeopardize the sacred right to free speech enshrined as early as 1986, in the wake of the advent

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