Four years in prison, including two suspended sentences, were required this Wednesday before the Besançon criminal court against a renowned theater teacher, prosecuted for assault, harassment and sexual blackmail on ten former students and student he made people repeat naked.
Read also: Besançon: students denounce acts of sexual assault at the Beaux-Arts
The public prosecutor, Etienne Manteaux, also requested a teaching ban and an obligation of care against Guillaume Dujardin, 50, professor at the University of Franche-Comté and creator of the Festival de Caves, prosecuted for acts committed between 2014 and 2017. The court will deliver its decision on October 21.
The prosecutor underlined
"the formidable hold"
of the defendant on his victims,
"passionate about the theater"
, and his
"guru methods"
who
"interfere in their private life and know their flaws to take power"
.
Nine former students and a former student of the DEUST theater in Besançon filed a civil suit.
"This grip was intended to satisfy his fantasies: get them to masturbate in front of him, simulate rape or even let themselves be photographed naked,"
continued the prosecutor.
Young women coming out of childhood, they found in
“uncle Duj”
a
“father figure”
, a
“theatrical mentor”
who gradually told them to
“let go”
, to
“get dirty”
, or even to
“
break down
”
.
He suggested that some
“work”
alone or in small groups outside of school hours and had them rehearse nude scenes.
He asked them to
"kiss"
,
"to taste"
, to
"touch their private parts"
, the students testified in court.
"Matteur" on stage
"I am the 'matteur' on stage,"
he said to his students.
“For me, it was an actor's game,”
said Guillaume Dujardin,
“fundamentally not understanding”
the effect it had produced:
“I made a fundamental mistake in this story, it's think I was talking to friends ”
.
“The theater worked with the limits, always with the agreement of the actor”
, Guillaume Dujardin,
“the limit of the sexual, it was my subject of work and it was my way of working to make them confront the reality of art ”.
“We use the theater alibi
,
”
criticized their lawyer, Me Anne Lassalle.
The defendant's lawyer, Me Mikaël Le Denmat, pleaded for the release, considering that Guillaume Dujardin had
"not imposed to play naked to his students"
and that
"there is no lack of consent" s
in cases of sexual assault.
