Yes, it's about defamation and incitement to do harm. This is complicated by the fact that French law doesn't make the clear distinction that U.S. and U.K. law (and other Common Law based systems) make between civil and criminal law. In the U.S. or U.K., these actions would most likely be taken privately in civil court, by the athlete claiming she was wrongly defamed and suffered injury as a result.

The French system (like other Napoleonic Code or Roman Law) systems works somewhat differently. A magistrate may take action on behalf of an injured party, especially (but not exclusively) if that party files a formal complaint asking for an investigation — which is where things stand right now in this case.

So, in some ways, this is like a civil lawsuit designed to remedy a "tort," but the process is not entirely unlike a criminal case ... at least for people not familiar with Napoleonic Code systems of law.

And of course, because punitive sanctions including jail time are possible here, that confusion is understandable.

But at heart, this case is about consequences for intentionally defamatory speech, with the stakes raised because French law raises them on purpose for people who have been targeted and defamed because of certain minority statuses.