The Paris Court of Appeal ordered the revival of the investigations into the rape investigation, dating from 2009, concerning Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of Action and Public Accounts.
Gérald Darmanin, who had been dismissed in 2018, must face justice in a story of rape, sexual harassment and breach of trust, as RTL indicates. The Paris Court of Appeal thus ordered, Tuesday, June 11, the resumption of investigations targeting him. The Minister of Public Accounts has always denied the facts, which took place in 2009.
"She is happy with the decision. Investigations must be made to establish the clue to corroborate the complainant's word and to confuse the respondent. ", Said one of the lawyers for the complainant.
"We now hope to have real judicial information, which will seriously examine the elements of the case", reacted on Thursday to Agence France-Presse (AFP) Elodie Tuaillon-Hibon and Marjolaine Vignola, the complainant’s lawyers. In a statement, counsel for Mr. Darmanin, for their part, considered that this judgment "is only linked to a question of formal admissibility " and recalled that their client has filed "slanderous complaint ".
Complaint history
Sophie Patterson-Spatz accuses Gérald Darmanin of having raped her in 2009. In this past, she had addressed the elected official, who was then project manager at the legal affairs department of the UMP, in an attempt to have it annulled a 2004 conviction for blackmail and malicious calls against a former partner. According to her, Mr. Darmanin would have dangled her support with the Chancellery, in exchange for sexual favors, reports Le Monde.
A resident of Tourcoing, a city whose minister was mayor from 2014 to 2017, also filed a complaint for "abuse of weakness". She said that the elected official asked her for sexual favors in exchange for accommodation. This procedure was also closed by the Paris public prosecutor's office in spring 2018.
In February 2018, Sophie Patterson-Spatz seized an examining magistrate with a civil action complaint asking her to continue the investigation. An action that followed the classification decided by the prosecution after preliminary investigations during which the minister had been interviewed, without being confronted with his accuser.
The magistrate had returned, six months later, "a dismissal order to be notified ", considering that in view of these investigations the alleged facts were not made up and that there was no need to open a judicial investigation. The complainant's appeal was considered too late by the court of appeal in October 2018, said AFP.
Sibeth Ndiaye, for her part, said on FranceInfo: "On the merits of the case, (he) has been dismissed. I renew to him my friendship and my confidence this evening. "