The Franco-Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf, accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old schoolgirl in 2013, was released on Wednesday July 8 by the Paris Court of Appeal.
Read also: Trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf tried for sexual assault on a minor
The 39-year-old artist, winner of the Victoires de la musique and a César award, was sentenced at first instance in December 2018 to 4 months suspended prison sentence and 20,000 euros fine. Ibrahim Maalouf, who was not present for the decision on Wednesday, always denied any sexual assault and had appealed.
At the hearing on appeal on June 2, the advocate general demanded a two-year suspended prison sentence and a 40,000 euro fine. The girl, who was in training at the time of the facts, said that the musician kissed her for the first time one evening when leaving a cinema in 2013. Told her that she was the source of the kiss , claiming to have rejected his advances.
Two days later, according to the complainant's version, he kissed her again, this time in his recording studio in Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne), then " caught by the pelvis " , mimicking a sexual act. This second sequence never existed, had argued the artist, who produced between the two instances new proof of his timetable on this date.
The girl's parents reported the incident a year later after she confided in a doctor. She had started scarifying and having eating disorders and has since had several hospitalizations and therapies. An investigation had been opened in the wake of the Créteil prosecution leading to the placement in police custody in January 2017 of Ibrahim Maalouf.
