Gerald Darmanin had obtained sexual favors in exchange for a promise of help, he was dismissed on appeal. The case will be brought before the ECHR if necessary. France has often been condemned for sexist decisions.
“Forward for the cassation before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which will give France, it is absolutely certain, the slap in the face that it has long deserved on this file in particular, and on the subject of sexual violence”: the lawyer M° Elodie Tuaillon-Hibon has every intention of changing the case law concerning cases of sexual assault by men of power in France. She thus reacted on Twitter on Tuesday to the announcement of the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal validating the dismissal of the case rendered last July for the benefit of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin.
Since 2017, her client, Sophie Patterson-Spatz, has been taking legal action once morest the man she accuses of having raped her in 2009. That year, the complainant asked for help from Gérald Darmanin, then in charge of mission in the legal affairs department of the UMP (which has since become Les Républicains). According to her, he had dangled her during an evening, his possible support and had asked in exchange for a sexual relationship.
A text conversation between them a few months later is illuminating. Sophie Patterson-Spatz writes: “Abuse of position. For me, that’s being a jerk. (…) When you know the effort it took me to fuck with you. To take care of my case. » And Gérald Darmanin replies: “You’re right, I’m probably a jerk. How to forgive myself ? »
But the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed, Tuesday, January 24, the dismissal of the case rendered in July 2022. This confirmation comes following a hearing which was held behind closed doors on December 13, in the absence of the two protagonists. . According to Agence France-Presse, the public prosecutor dismissed “the hypothesis of false or malicious accusations” by Mme Patterson-Spatz, but felt that“it can only be considered[elle] did not consent to the sexual act”.
The legal definition of rape is: Any act of sexual penetration, of whatever nature, committed on the person of another or on the person of the perpetrator by violence, coercion, threat or surprise“. Its interpretation is subject to discussion. The plaintiff’s lawyer evokes a sexual relationship “extorted”, “neither free, nor consent” and wants to shake up the habits of justice on cases of sexual assault by men of power.
France has already been pinned on several occasions by international bodies for having rendered judgments that smack of sexism.
In 2011, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned France for violating the principle of the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial. A man accused of sexual harassment had been dismissed for lack of evidence. But the plaintiff had been condemned by the French courts for slanderous denunciation. The ECHR had ruled that his trial was “unfair” and had called into question “this legal presumption of guilt”.
Lire : SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND Slanderous Denunciation: FRANCE CONDEMNED
At the end of 2022, the ECHR condemned France for not respecting freedom of expression. Due to a militant action for abortion in 2013, an ex-Femen had been sentenced for “sexual exhibition”.
Read: IVG: FRANCE CONDEMNED BY THE ECHR FOR VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
In 2021, two associations brought another case before the ECHR: The Court of Cassation had just refused to overturn a judgment of the Court of Appeal of Versailles which had pronounced a divorce to the exclusive fault of a wife, on the grounds that she would not have “honored the conjugal duty” towards her husband.
Read: “CONJUGAL DUTY”: FRENCH JUSTICE BEFORE THE ECHR
In France, court decisions are not always free of sexism but now the ECHR opposes these decisions… It might be that the case between Gérald Darmanin and Sophie Patterson-Spatz goes to the ECHR if the Court of Cassation confirms the dismissal.
Read also in Les Nouvelles News
BOOKSHOPS IN FIGHT FOR FEMINIST FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AFTER THE PASSAGE OF G DARMANIN
DARMANIN CASE: WHY THE “PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE” IS OFF-TOPIC
MACRON AND DARMANIN “FROM MAN TO MAN”: FEMINIST MESSAGE
NEW SEXIST RELEASE BY GÉRALD DARMANIN
