It is a setback for the Institute of Political Studies of Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) which had supported a student, accused of rape and sexual assault by a feminist collective.
The constitution of civil party of the IEP during the trial, on September 7, was ruled inadmissible by the criminal court of Rennes on Tuesday.
As for the student tried for having "started the rumor" of rape and sexual assault against the student, he was released.
More than a year and a half after the events, the case therefore collapses like a breath, leaving two students with a promising future on the floor.
The facts were however serious and had agitated the student circles in Rennes in the spring of 2019. On March 14, 2019, leaflets were posted on the walls of Sciences-po and in the adjacent streets accusing a first year student of being "an activist of the patriarchy, rapist, stalker, manipulator ”.
At that time, the context was particular on campus.
The IEP of Rennes is plagued by demonstrations and blockages which crystallize tensions between students, and the affair is growing, bringing “ultra-left” groups and anti-block students face to face.
The management of the establishment, after hearing several students, including the victim of the leaflets, first tries to see more clearly, then supports the student targeted by the leaflets when the latter tries to end his life.
The two students are no longer at the IEP
At the court hearing on September 7, the institute maintained its position through the voice of its lawyer, Me Camille Ernstberger.
“It was not an arbitrary choice of the IEP to accompany one of its students in a deleterious climate.
The IEP has lined up behind the prosecution, ”which pursued the other student of the same class, sent to court for slanderous denunciation.
The 21-year-old young man, who has since left school and enrolled at Rennes 2 University, has always denied being the source of the leaflets.
Member of a feminist association, he admits having participated in "two or three meetings of the Collective of anti-sexist action (Caas)" which published the leaflets.
But the accusations against his classmate, he "discovered at the same time as everyone".
However, the prosecution always believed that he was the source of the charges, given the fact that he allegedly declared himself the victim of a sexual assault by this student.
Me Olivier Chauvel, representative of the student targeted by the leaflets, accuses him of being "a revolutionary in rabbit skin", ready to "distill the poison of rumor in the name of the fight against patriarchy", without thinking of the dramatic consequences for "an individual given over to popular vindictiveness".
Of foreign origin, this student has since returned to his country, no longer able to study in Rennes.