The man was acquitted of the acts of sexual assault of which a teenager accused him but was again sentenced for possession of child pornography images.
The Reims Court of Appeal confirmed the acquittal of a former DGSI officer for the sexual assault of which a teenager accused him, and again sentenced him to one year in prison for detention of child pornography images, we learned on Saturday from a lawyer.
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This police commander, former departmental head of the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI, responsible in particular for the fight against terrorism) for the Ardennes, is “sentenced to the same sentence as at first instance for possession and consultation of child pornography images“, or two years of imprisonment, one of which is suspended, told AFP Pauline Manesse, lawyer for the complainant at the origin of the investigation. But it’s like in the first instance”acquitted of sexual assault“.
“I don’t understand this decision. The court did not draw the conclusions from the data in the criminal file on the coercion and domination exercised by (this policeman) over this particularly vulnerable young girl.“, lamented Me Manesse. “It is a curious message sent to young women who would like to denounce this type of behavior“, she added.
Sexual touching “always by consent”
In April 2019, this young woman in her twenties had filed a complaint against him in Reims for acts of rape and sexual assault which she said she had suffered when she was 17 years old. She had just beencaught by the DGSI, when she was ready to leave for Syria» and was «under responsibilityof this agent, estimated Me Manesse.
In police custody, the man, then 57 years old, had admitted sexual touching of the complainant on several occasions, but “always by consent», and denied «any act of penetration of any kind“. He had claimed to befall in love“from her and never to have her”forced into anything“.
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This father had also admitted to regularly consulting child pornography sites and downloading a large number of photos of young minors. The prosecution had requested four years in prison at first instance, and had appealed following the judgment. “Having maintained that there was no consensual relationship, the prosecution could not do anything else“, had explained the prosecutor.
“As soon as the facts come to light“, the policeman had been”disarmed by his hierarchy“then quickly”administratively suspended from duty“, according to the statements of the prosecution at the time.