FRENCH COUNCIL OF STATE REJECTS REQUEST
FOR PUTIN TO BE STRIPPED OF LEGION OF HONOUR

March 6, 2007 (RSF) - Reporters Without Borders [Reporters sans frontières, RSF] said it was disappointed to learn yesterday that the French Council of State has rejected its request for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to be stripped of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, which President Jacques Chirac awarded him on 22 September.

... Reporters Without Borders added: “We do not challenge this argument in legal terms, but we can only regret that the law does not allow us to criticise the award of a decoration to someone who is responsible for grave press freedom violations. Elevating Putin to the Legion of Honour’s highest rank continues to be an act unworthy of France.”

... On 20 October, Reporters Without Borders addressed a formal request to the Council of State and to Chirac, as Grand Master of the Order of the Legion of Honour, to strip Putin of the Grand Cross.

It is hard to see what legal standing RSF thought it had before the court. "Acts unworthy of France" are not criminal. Unworthy acts constitute a big part of the everyday in France (see post directly below, and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here, to link only a smattering).

Also the court didn't rule that RSF could not criticize France's award of le Grand croix. It ruled such criticism did not have an actionable basis in French law.

Not that Pave has any complaint with the RSF complaint. Mr. Putin is a thug and he runs a thug government.

A total of 21 journalists, including Anna Politkovskaya, have been murdered in Russia with complete impunity since Putin became president in March 2000, while Chechnya continues to be a new black hole.

But Mr. Putin is schmoozed because thuggish Russia has the muscle and nerve that vainglorious France pretends to but cowers before.

PFFT (What is this?): Grand croix schmooze for oil 4 | Rayonnement français 0