The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed on Tuesday the dismissal of the case rendered last July for the benefit of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, accused by Sophie Patterson-Spatz of having raped her in 2009, AFP learned from sources. close to the file. The Attorney General of Paris Rémy Heitz confirmed in a press release the meaning of this decision of the investigating chamber which clarifies a little more the political horizon of Mr. Darmanin by putting an end to this very sensitive file which targets him. since 2017.
During a closed-door hearing on December 13, in the absence of the two main protagonists, the general prosecutor’s office had requested confirmation of the dismissal. In its written submissions consulted by AFP, the public prosecutor ruled out “the hypothesis of false or malicious accusations” by Ms. Patterson-Spatz, but considered that “it cannot be considered that (she) did not consented to the sexual act”.
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Me Elodie Tuaillon-Hibon, on the contrary evoked a “surprise rape” and an “extorted” sexual relationship, “neither free nor consented”. The lawyer had said her wish to have “finally the right to a little justice”, because “the incriminating elements for the rape are present in the file”. The lawyers for the Minister of the Interior, Mes Pierre-Olivier Sur and Mathias Chichportich, were to react during the day, as was Me Elodie Tuaillon-Hibon.
A first rape complaint filed in 2017
Ms. Patterson-Spatz, 50, filed a first rape complaint against Gérald Darmanin in the spring of 2017, for facts that allegedly occurred in Paris in 2009. In 2009, the complainant contacted Gérald Darmanin, then in charge of mission to the legal affairs department of the UMP (which has since become LR), to obtain support when she wanted to have a 2005 conviction for blackmail and malicious calls against an ex-companion reviewed.
According to her, he had dangled his possible support during an evening via a letter that he undertook to write to the Chancellery, and had asked in exchange for a sexual relationship. The Complainant and the Minister both acknowledge a sexual relationship.
But Sophie Patterson-Spatz believes she was forced to “go to the pan” with Gérald Darmanin when the latter, then 26 years old, said to her: “You too will have to help me”. For his part, the Minister of the Interior claims to have “given in to the charms” of an “enterprising” complainant.
After investigations closed three times and procedural disputes, Ms. Patterson-Spatz had obtained in the summer of 2020 the appointment of an investigating judge to examine her charges. Gérald Darmanin had been placed under the intermediate status of assisted witness at the end of 2020.