The prevention association against pedophilia the Blue Angel is targeted by an investigation, being suspected of having collected testimonies from pedophiles without having informed the justice, AFP learned from the Paris prosecutor's office on Tuesday.
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This investigation, opened on May 19 for " failure to report crimes committed against minors under the age of 15 ", was entrusted to the Brigade for the Protection of Minors. According to a source familiar with the matter, it was opened following an anonymous report made on the platform against gender-based and sexual violence.
At the end of May, several associations for the protection of children and the fight against sexual violence, including Innocence in danger, announced in a press release that they had sent reports to the prosecution so that it would shed light " on the actions of Latifa Bennari ", The president of the Blue Angel. Since 1998, this group has brought together abstinent pedophiles and aggressors for a support group that also includes victims.
" I do not denounce " pedophiles
In this press release, the associations denounced several words of Latifa Bennari, in particular during an interview in August on Europe 1, during which she declared not to denounce the pedophiles committed. " I am not reporting because I am not replacing the victim (...) because (...) many victims want or just wanted to understand, " she said.
" There are fears of many victims suffocated by the silence of the words and the protection provided by this association, " said Innocence in Danger president Homayra Sellier, quoted in the press release. Latifa Bennari denounced Tuesday to AFP " false statements " relayed by associations that act "out of hatred and revenge ".
“ My role is not to denounce, my role is to listen. It is not up to me to take the place of the victim, it is up to her, or her parents if she is a minor, to file a complaint. But I can guide them in this process, "she added, saying that she had" never had the feeling of leaving an aggressor free ". She also said that she had filed a defamation complaint against Kathya de Brinon, an activist committed against sexual violence against minors, who participated in a discussion group led by Latifa Bennari in 2018 and described her methods as “ dangerous ” on social networks. .