After over 24 hours in detention, French journalist Ariane Lavrilleux released late Wednesday

Journalist Ariane Lavrilleux was released on Wednesday after spending over 24 hours in detention following her arrest by French authorities in relation to her work at Disclose, a French investigative website.

Lavrilleux has co-authored reports published by the French investigative website Disclose that relied on confidential French military documents to look into the French military providing arms and intelligence to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. 

In comments published to Disclose’s social media following her release, Lavrilleux stated that her detention “shows that we are disturbing [power] and that we are needed. We will redouble our efforts to report on the sale of arms to dictators, as citizens have the right to know what our governments are doing.” 

Due to reporting that revealed confidential information about French military cooperation with several governments, including Egypt’s, Lavrilleux was detained on Tuesday morning by French authorities after having her house searched. She was held at the Marseille police headquarters, where she was accompanied by a lawyer, according to a statement released by Disclose on Tuesday.

Disclose’s Tuesday statement asserted that Lavrilleux's arrest was part of a July 2022 investigation into “the compromise of national defense secrets and revealing of information that could lead to the identification of a protected agent,” which Disclose called the “latest episode of unacceptable intimidation of the outlet's journalists to identify our sources who helped reveal the Sirli military operation in Egypt.”

Lavrilleux was a co-author of  "The Egypt Papers,” which Disclose published in November 2021, detailing military coordination with Egypt. 

Disclose emphasized that Lavrilleux’s reporting is of public interest as it illuminates French weapons use against civilian populations and the public debate about France's links with "dictatorships."

Following her arrest on Tuesday, Disclose and Reporters Without Borders organized a demonstration to call for the release of Lavrilleux in Paris on Wednesday afternoon. 

This is not the first time Disclose has come under scrutiny from French authorities. The DGSI summoned Disclose co-founder and editor-in-chief Geoffrey Livolsi and two other French journalists in December for publishing an investigation into French Armed Forces contract favoritism in 2018. The intelligence agency questioned the same three journalists in 2019 at the French Armed Forces Ministry's request, concerning France's arms sales to Saudis and Emiratis in Yemen.