First act: a book,
History of violence
.
In this book, published in January 2016 at Le Seuil, the writer Édouard Louis recounts having been raped by a young man, whom he calls Reda.
Second act: a trial.
The one brought to Édouard Louis by a certain Riadh B., who considers himself recognizable by the features of Reda in the book.
The complaint was finally deemed inadmissible in April 2016. Third act, this Friday: another trial.
Riadh B., 35, is tried by the 14th chamber of the Paris Criminal Court for “sexual assault” on the writer.
He faces five years in prison.
The facts date back to December 2012.
“I met Reda on Christmas Eve.
I returned home after a meal with friends around four in the morning.
He approached me in the street and I ended up offering him to go up to my studio.
[...] We spent the rest of the night together, we discussed, we laughed.
At about six in the morning he took out a gun and said he was going to kill me.
He insulted me, strangled, raped me.
The next day, the medical and legal procedures began, ”
writes Édouard Louis in the summary of his work.
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Pushed by two of his friends, Édouard Louis lodged a complaint.
The investigation shows that after
"consented and protected" relations
between the two men, the writer discovered that his iPhone and his iPad had disappeared, and that the situation then escalated.
Arrested in January 2016 in connection with a narcotics case, Riadh B. is confused by his DNA and indicted for “theft” and “rape with a weapon”.
If the Algerian recognizes the theft, he vigorously denies the rest.
After eleven months in pre-trial detention, he was released.
Édouard Louis refuses any confrontation
During the investigation, the attitude of Édouard Louis is ambivalent.
He becomes a civil party and confirms his accusations before the investigating judge in charge of the case.
But in February 2016, he also confided to a psychologist that he regrets having lodged a complaint under the influence of his friends, that he is against imprisonment and hopes for a dismissal.
In May 2016, during a hearing, he indicates that this affair disturbs him a lot, that he no longer sleeps and cries
"all the time"
.
Édouard Louis also refuses to be confronted with Riadh B. The young man is
“morally incapable of being confronted with the indicted”
because that could
“weaken him even more”
, assures his lawyer Me Emmanuel Pierrat.
The writer will not attend this Friday's trial either.
Me Marie Dosé, the defendant's counsel, deplores this refusal.
"My client has the right to be confronted with the one who accuses him, and this right was denied to him by the civil party throughout his imprisonment," she
told AFP.
Contacted by
Le Figaro
, Me Dosé now refuses to comment on this case.
In January 2019, the alleged facts were reclassified as “sexual assault” -
“in an opportunity and for the good administration of justice”
, specifies the investigating judge - and Riadh B. is referred to the criminal court.
Me Pierrat stresses, however, that this referral for "sexual assault" and not "rape" is
"only justified by a measure of judicial organization totally unrelated to the merits of this case".
"Édouard Louis did not oppose this requalification", he
specifies, recalling that his client is "
in principle unfavorable to the penalties of deprivation of liberty
".
