Depp, the 55-year-old star
of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, is suing the tabloid’s publisher, News
Group Newspapers, and its executive editor Dan Wootton for libel over an
article Wootton wrote in 2018 calling Depp a “wife beater”.
Hollywood star Johnny Depp
appeared in a London court on Wednesday to hear his lawyer argue that Depp’s
ex-wife had lied when she accused him of beating her in comments quoted by the
tabloid newspaper The SUN.
Depp himself attended the
High Court for the first day of the pre-trial review. The trial proper is due
to start on March 23 and last two weeks.
Both Depp and his ex-wife
Amber Heard accused each other of physical abuse during their relationship.
Heard first made allegations in 2016, which Depp denied.
“One of them is lying and
doing so on a grand scale,” said a skeleton argument submitted by Depp’s
lawyers and distributed to journalists.
“It is a very important
function therefore of this libel trial that these allegations are tested, and
either proved or disproved.”
The onus in the case is on
the Sun to prove that it has not committed libel. It will argue simply that the
article is not defamatory because it is true.
The skeleton argument
requested that the court agree to hear witnesses living in California by
video-link during the London afternoon, to accommodate the eight-hour time
difference.
News Group Newspapers is
owned by the New York-listed News Corp.
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