Alleged defamation: Eddy Sadien returns to the charge against the Diocese of Port-Louis

Rs 2 million. This is the amount claimed by social worker Eddy Sadien from the Diocese of Port-Louis in a complaint for defamation filed before the civil chamber of the intermediate court. This is the second time that he has filed a complaint against the Diocese of Port-Louis.

Eddy Sadien claims to have been defamed by a press article published in a daily newspaper dated July 22, 2019. He deplores having been presented as an “opportunistic social agitator”, denouncing the remarks which he attributes to the Diocese of Port-Louis, then represented by Father Jean Maurice Labour, according to which “he had lied to the press”. These accusations, he says, undermined “his decades of selfless social work serving the community.”

The social worker had initially filed a defamation action against Father Jean Maurice Labour in a complaint filed in the Civil Intermediate Court on September 6, 2019. However, Father Jean Maurice Labour had successfully pleaded that there was no valid cause of action against him since the article was not written in his personal name. As a result, the complaint was dismissed on November 8, 2021.

Louis Eddy Sadien appealed to the Supreme Court, before withdrawing it. He nevertheless reserved the right to return to the charge. Hence his complaint filed in March 2024 against the Diocese of Port-Louis.