A mother and her daughter were imprisoned in early September for having kidnapped and abused their daughter and sister for three years "
in unworthy living conditions
" and "
in connection with a religious rite
", in Charente-Maritime, said Wednesday (September 8th). the prosecutor of La Rochelle.
Read also Thirteen years in prison for Mimran, involved in the kidnapping of a Swiss financier
The facts date back to the night of August 24 when the Saint-Jean-d'Angély gendarmes intervened in the village of Bignay where a 25-year-old young woman had just fled from her home, the prosecutor said in a statement. Laurent Zuchowicz. She declared "to
have been kidnapped for three years by her mother and sister in an unsanitary housing, to have been assaulted on several occasions for having tried to rebel or to leave, to have been regularly deprived of meals and to endure unworthy living conditions," all in connection with a religious rite followed to the letter by his mother and sister
”.
Assertions corroborated, according to the prosecution, by medical examinations, testimonies and investigative findings.
"
A previous procedure initiated in November 2020 following a report sent by social services, which had warned of the precariousness of this family
", was joined to the investigation.
A source close to the investigation told AFP that the young woman lived "
in her excrement in a room with windows nailed by wooden planks in a disgusting house, without water or electricity
".
Blank criminal records
The 58-year-old mother and 27-year-old daughter were indicted for "
criminal forcible confinement
" and imprisoned, but only after a psychiatric examination and first compulsory hospitalization. In front of the investigators, the mother disputed the denunciations of her daughter. The other girl did not wish to speak. They each display a criminal record free of any conviction, according to the prosecution.
According to
The New Republic
, which revealed the matter on Tuesday, "
the conversion of mother and older sister to Mennonitism
" - a movement also known as Mennonism dating back to the 16th century and belonging to Protestantism - may explain why the three women fell together. are folded in on themselves. “
We are not in a case of sect but there is a problematic either religious or mystical between three people who have high intellectual levels. The mother, in particular, studied psychiatry,
”declared Tuesday at a public hearing of the investigating chamber of the Poitiers Court of Appeal, Advocate General Stéphane Chassard, quoted by the newspaper.
To read also "You Jews, you are the spoiled of the Earth": the kidnapping of a Jewish family judged before the assizes
During this hearing, the provisional detention of the 27-year-old suspect was maintained, explained to AFP the latter's lawyer, Me Julien Sevet.
In this case, the victim filed a complaint against his mother but not against his sister, said Mr. Sevet, who did not wish to discuss the alleged religious aspect of the case.
On the other hand, he denounced a "
quack
" of the "
Saintes prosecutor's office and / or social services
" in the treatment of findings on the family made in 2020.
