After the disciplinary sanction, criminal proceedings. At the end of 2019, lawyer Alex Ursulet had been struck off by the disciplinary council of the Paris bar – the criminal lawyer is contesting this decision and the Paris Court of Appeal will rule on the subject on January 20, 2022. Thursday, December 9, Mr.e Ursulet, 64, was indicted for “rape by a person in authority”, has learned The world, confirming information from Mediapart.
The legal troubles of the one who was the counsel of the serial killer Guy Georges and of the former minister and mayor of Grenoble Alain Carignon date back to September 25, 2019. That day, a young lawyer files a complaint against the criminal, she denounces rape and sexual harassment.
According to the complainant’s account, the facts date from January 30, 2018, while she was on probation with Mr.e Ursulet. The penalist would have, during a lunch at a restaurant, questioned him about his sexual practices, she says. Before, on their return to the lawyer’s office, to kiss her, lift her dress, lower her panties and penetrate her with the fingers several times. Unable to return to work the next day, the young woman resigns by e-mail. Me Ursulet has always disputed these accusations.
Heard in police custody in June 2020, the lawyer came out under the status of assisted witness. He assures us that it is he who wanted to put an end to the internship agreement of the young woman, who would have wanted revenge. Having appealed against his delisting, he is still practicing today.
“Manipulation, domination, harassment”
The disciplinary council of the Paris bar, after more than seven months of investigation in 2019, had not been convinced by the arguments of Mr.e Uruslet, noting that “All his attempts at explanations were denied both by the witnesses interviewed, even when they were on defense (…), than by the documents entered in the file ”.
In its judgment of December 31, 2019, the authority considered that the lawyer, also author of dubious SMS sent to the young woman, had breached the principles of his profession and “Adopted inappropriate behavior towards a trainee, which manifested itself in manipulation, domination, harassment, for the purpose of carrying out acts of a sexual nature serious enough not to be revealed by Mr. Alex Ursulet but masked by incoherent and false words ”.
Contacted by The world, Me Thibault Laforcade, defender of the complainant, sees in this indictment “The logically expected continuation in this file”. “Nothing justifies this indictment”, considers on the other hand Me Marie Burguburu, counsel for the penalist, cited by Mediapart. “The advantage, she adds, it is because it gives the defense of Alex Ursulet rights that it did not previously have under the status of assisted witness. “