A rest.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin should have been heard on Tuesday "without indictment envisaged" in the investigation for "rape" which targets him, but his lawyers have requested a postponement, they announced Wednesday to AFP, confirming information from L'Opinion.
Gérald Darmanin "should be heard as a simple assisted witness which means that no indictment is considered", welcomed his lawyers Me Mathias Chichportich and Pierre-Olivier Sur.
The information had not yet been confirmed from a judicial source to AFP late Wednesday morning.
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The lawyers asked "because of a major professional constraint" the postponement of this hearing planned as part of the investigations into a charge of rape in 2009 against this heavyweight of the government.
“Gérald Darmanin had asked from July 23 to be heard by the examining magistrate […].
We have already indicated that he would make himself available for any new hearing, ”added his advice.
Two classifications without continuation and one dismissal
"For the record, this procedure follows two classifications without follow-up from the Paris prosecutor's office and an order dismissing an investigating judge", added the two lawyers.
The Paris Court of Appeal ordered in mid-June the resumption of investigations concerning a charge of rape in 2009 against Gérald Darmanin, almost two years after a dismissal order annulled by the Court of Cassation in November 2019 for reasons procedural.
VIDEO. "Rapist", "accomplice", feminists demonstrate after the appointment of Darmanin and Dupond-Moretti
In June, the investigative chamber of the court of appeal did not follow the requisitions of the general prosecutor's office and estimated, according to a judicial source, that the investigating magistrate "could not rely solely on the results of the investigation preliminary ”to refuse to relaunch the investigations in this case.
Mr. Darmanin is accused by a woman, Sophie Patterson-Spatz, of rape, sexual harassment and breach of trust.
Darmanin already heard in free hearing
At the time, Sophie Patterson-Spatz had contacted the elected official, then in charge of the legal affairs department of the UMP (ancestor of LR), to try to have a 2004 conviction for blackmail and appeals annulled. malicious against an ex-companion.
According to her, Mr. Darmanin, now 37 years old, would have dangled his support from the Chancellery via a letter, in exchange for sexual favors that she would have accepted in March 2009, feeling compelled to "move on to the pan ”, according to his expression in front of the investigators.
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Heard in open hearing during the preliminary investigation, Mr. Darmanin confirmed having had a sexual relationship with Ms. Patterson-Spatz, but according to him freely consented and at the initiative of the complainant.
"We are not going to delay this judicial meeting without stopping because it will always have something to do", responded to AFP Me Elodie Tuaillon-Hibon, lawyer for Ms. Spatz.
