The unusual affair condenses contemporary issues into a family, mixing the dazzling nature of social networks with the depth of buried memories. Accused of incest on Facebook, a father sues his two sons in the Lyon court for defamation. The procedure was initiated with the 6e correctional chamber, specializing in press offenses, Tuesday March 16. The trial is set for June 15, except last minute withdrawal.
The story broke on January 22. Pascal M., 49, posts a message on his Facebook account, preceded by the hashtag #metooinceste. He writes : “It is about a wave … Maybe the opportunity to throw myself into the water so as not to be silent anymore. ” In ten lines, the author essentially asserts that his father is guilty of sexual assault on a minor. He would like to thank Camille Kouchner, daughter-in-law of Olivier Duhamel and author of La Familia grande (Threshold, 208 p., € 18), “To have provoked this electroshock”. For him, the book made it possible to put the word “incest” on his own past. In the hour which follows, his brother, Olivier, engineer, posts a comment, accompanied by the same hashtag. He writes : ” it is my brother “, followed by a heart. Then: ” This is my father “, with devil head emoticon.
Little fan of Facebook, the father received the screenshot of this message, by email, sent by a relative. “I was flabbergasted. Let this accusation be public and become notorious. That my name, my family are tainted in this way, it’s unbearable ”, says Guy M., retired in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, former director of higher schools in the North and in Savoie. The father decided to prosecute his two sons to dispute the facts, as much as to denounce the method. “What is the point of posting such a message on Facebook?” We are in the ultra-intimate. This process is an indecent, shameless justice. Whether it is true or false elsewhere, should the discussion take place on social networks?, asks Thomas Fourrey, his lawyer. It is advisable to set limits to the wave of denunciations by hashtag interposed “, considers the specialist in press law.
Open investigation
“The two brothers are not social media stars. They shared this revelation with the circle of their acquaintances, less than forty people. For them, the context allowed them to free their word and overcome a heavy family secret. They are ready to face it all ”, answers Christian Saint-André, the lawyer of the two brothers concerned. In response to the defamation proceedings, Pascal M. filed a complaint for “sexual assault on a minor by ascendant”, with the Lyon prosecutor. An investigation is open, and the forty-something was recently heard by the gendarmerie of his village, on the Atlantic coast.
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