By Karim El-Bar
LONDON (AA) – Hollywood actor Johnny Depp on Monday lost his libel case against Britain's The Sun tabloid newspaper, which reported he was a “wife beater."
The 57-year-old sued the paper after it claimed he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard. While he denied the charges, The Sun said the article was accurate.
The case, heard by a high court in London, was one of the most widely followed libel trials ever.
Judge Justice Nicol said The Sun has proved that what it published was "substantially true.”
“I have found that the great majority of alleged assaults of Ms Heard by Mr Depp have been proved to the civil standard,” he said. “I have reached these conclusions having examined in detail the 14 incidents on which the defendants rely as well as the overarching considerations which the claimant submitted I should take into account."
Depp had filed the case against The Sun’s publisher, Murdoch-owned News Group Newspapers, after it ran the article originally titled: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”
Following the verdict, the paper said "domestic abuse victims must never be silenced."
“The Sun has stood up and campaigned for the victims of domestic abuse for over 20 years," a spokesperson said. "Domestic abuse victims must never be silenced and we thank the judge for his careful consideration and thank Amber Heard for her courage in giving evidence to the court."
Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, the American lawyer representing Amber Heard in a similar defamation case in the US, also welcomed the decision.
“For those of us present for the London high court trial, this decision and judgment are not a surprise," he said in a statement. "Very soon, we will be presenting even more voluminous evidence in the US. We are committed to obtaining justice for Amber Heard in the US court and defending Ms Heard’s right to free speech.”
