Blogged Down

When French political activist Christophe Grébert started a blog about his local government's waste and mismanagement, he knew it would attract attention. The city had been run by the same mayor, Charles Ceccaldi-Raynaud, for more than 30 years -- and he was actively grooming Joëlle, his daughter and deputy, to fill his shoes. What Grébert didn't know was that blogging about an entrenched political family would land him in court. But next February, Grébert will defend himself in a trial brought by the city of Puteaux, a prosperous Paris suburb.

Since starting his blog, MonPuteaux.com, in 2002, Grébert has launched broadside after broadside at Puteaux's city management and public spending. A typical gripe: Under Mayor Joëlle, who succeeded her father in 2004, the city forked over $900,000 for a new public fountain. Such tempests in teapots might never have made news if the city hadn't decided to strike back. First, the senior Ceccaldi-Raynaud tried the old-fashioned way: He allegedly had municipal police officers stop Grébert in the street -- a little subtle intimidation to get him to pipe down. Grébert's response? Naturally, he posted a full account of the episode on his blog.

Then Mayor Joëlle directed the city to file defamation charges against her family's critic. Now, Grébert must prove not only that the statements he made were true but that he made them without malice or exaggeration. Still, he's confident. "I don't call names," says Grébert. "I say, 'this money belongs to the community, and it's being badly managed.'"

Grébert's case is a rarity, not only in France, but among Western democracies. Curt Hopkins, director of the Committee to Protect Bloggers, knows of no other case in a democracy in which a government has brought defamation charges against a blogger.

As Grébert awaits his trial date, there's one city budget item he might want to post on his blog: the nearly $33,000 the city is spending to take him to court.