The General Prosecutor’s Office of the Court of Cassation rejected the request made to it to file an “appeal in the interest of the law” after the acquittal at the end of April of two police officers accused of rape at 36 quai des Orfèvres, announced Thursday the Court of Cassation to AFP.
Nicolas Redouane and Antoine Quirin were acquitted on April 22
Attorney General François Molins “did not grant this request”, considering that it “does not appear that the judgment rendered” by the Val-de-Marne Court of Appeal “was in violation” of the law.
The appeal in the interest of the law is a very specific remedy, which consists in assessing the existence of a possible error of law in the procedure or the reasoning of the verdict, but is not such as to annul the decision of the acquittal. Only the Attorney General of the Court of Cassation can lodge such an appeal, either on his own initiative or at the request of the Keeper of the Seals.
“In such a case, the cassation is therefore pronounced in a purely doctrinal interest, to enlighten the courts and the users of the law”, underlines the highest court of the judicial order.
Police officers Nicolas Redouane and Antoine Quirin were acquitted on appeal on April 22 by the Val-de-Marne Assize Court. They were accused of gang rape of a Canadian tourist in 2014 at 36 quai des Orfèvres, which was then the headquarters of the Paris judicial police. At first instance, in 2019, they were sentenced to seven years in prison.
“This is a second acquittal for our customers”
The request to the public prosecutor’s office was made on April 25 by the complainant’s lawyers and a group of lawyers. They considered in particular that the Assize Court had “sought only what was capable, not only of exculpating the defendants, but of building doubt in relation to the testimony of the victim, and this, with the help of ‘biased arguments’.
The Assize Court notably motivated its decision by the “many uncertainties, inaccuracies” or even “several lies” of the complainant, thus following the defense lawyers who had pointed the finger at her “evolutionary” statements or her “lies”.
In his refusal, François Molins emphasizes in particular that if the European Court of Human Rights asks judges to be attentive to the terms used in the decisions they render, it also notes, with regard to another case, that ‘in the absence of an objective witness, the question of the complainant’s credibility is crucial and that “referring (…) to some of her behavior during the evening could be justified”.
“We are very happy, it’s a second acquittal for our clients!” Reacted Thursday to AFP Pascal Garbarini, the lawyer for one of the two police officers. “This decision of the Court of Cassation is logical. It means that the verdict of the Assize Court, which acquitted and therefore exonerated, was also rendered in full respect of our law”, he added.
Civil party lawyers were not immediately available.