The two investigations for “rape of minors” targeting Gérard Louvin and her husband Daniel Moyne were closed in January by the Paris prosecutor’s office.
The two investigations for “rape of minors” targeting producer Gérard Louvin and her husband Daniel Moyne were closed in January by the Paris prosecutor’s office, in the first case for prescription and in the second for “insufficiently characterized offense”. In January 2021, Olivier A. had filed a complaint, accusing his uncle Gérard Louvin of having “favoured” incestuous rapes committed on him by the producer’s husband, Daniel Moyne, in the 1980s.
Subsequently, several other complaints for “rape” and “sexual assault” against the couple had been filed in Paris, and a preliminary investigation had been opened by the prosecutor’s office in the capital. He confirmed that this procedure had “been dismissed in January 2022 due to the acquisition of the prescription of the public action”. “After careful examination of the procedure, we regret to inform you that the facts that you denounce are covered by the prescription, preventing any prosecution from being brought against the respondent”, also indicated the prosecution in a letter to complainants in mid-January. Me Pierre Debuisson, lawyer for several plaintiffs, told AFP his belief that non-prescribed victims existed.
“My clients are still waiting for them to come forward,” he said, adding that they are “considering filing a complaint with civil action” to obtain the appointment of an investigating judge.
At the beginning of August, the Paris prosecutor’s office had opened another investigation, also “for rape of minors”, after an indirect testimony accusing the two men of organizing “‘paying sexual parties’ with minors from the favelas” in Brazil in 2004, what they disputed. This other procedure “has meanwhile been dismissed”, also last January, “due to an insufficiently characterized offense”, announced the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Gérard Louvin denounced a “cabal”
Shortly after the publication of the January 2021 article in Le Monde revealing Olivier A.’s accusations, Gérard Louvin said he was the victim of a “cabal” and blackmail for money from his nephew. “I am not a predator!”, had still assured Gérard Louvin. This double classification “is a fair application of the criminal law, it is quite normal that Gérard Louvin is completely exonerated by French justice”, commented his lawyer, Me Christophe Ayela, requested by AFP.
“It’s a victory,” reacted Me Céline Bekerman, lawyer for Daniel Moyne. “Justice has been served, it is a great relief, it was a long and painful procedure for my client. We are happy to have trusted our legal system, because today their honor is washed,” said she added.
Gérard Louvin is a familiar figure in French television, linked to TF1. He produced several flagship programs and also appeared on them several times as a juror or columnist. He has also produced numerous shows and plays. The couple had already been the subject of judicial investigations. Two investigations had been closed without prosecution in 2015 and 2016, the first on a report concerning their adopted son, according to Le Monde, the second, due to prescription, on the facts already denounced concerning Olivier A.
In a circular of February 2021, the Keeper of the Seals Eric Dupond-Moretti had asked that, at the end of the preliminary investigations, the classification due to “prescription” intervene “only (…) when the facts revealed or denounced in the procedure constitute an offense but that the time limit fixed by law for being able to judge them has passed”. It is this reason that was chosen for the facts denounced by Mr. Olivier A. and other complainants. “When at the end of the investigations, the offense does not appear to have been constituted, it is the reason ‘insufficiently characterized offense’ or even ‘absence of offense’ which must be checked, even when the facts falsely denounced have been prescribed”, continued instructions from the Chancellery. It is this choice that was made regarding the charges relating to events that allegedly occurred in Brazil.