Since the start of her appeal trial, she has been sitting on a chair with wheels, alongside her lawyer Me Frank Natali and behind her co-accused Georges Tron.
Discreet, she has not expressed herself so far, with the exception of January 26, when the Paris Assize Court looked at her personality.
This Thursday, February 11, the hearing day is this time almost entirely devoted to him.
Facing the three judges and the fourteen jurors (nine incumbents, five substitutes), Brigitte Gruel, in velvet pants and sleeveless down jacket, defended her innocence until the evening.
To read also: Two years after his acquittal, Georges Tron retried for "rapes"
From her first moments at the helm, the sixty-year-old wishes to
"reaffirm that all the accusations brought against [her] are false, that the facts of which [her] accused have never existed"
.
Two former employees of the town hall of Draveil, Virginie Ettel and Éva Loubrieu, claim to have suffered "rape" and "sexual assault" by her and that of Georges Tron, between 2007 and 2010. They filed a complaint in May 2011, which notably caused the resignation of the politician from his post of Secretary of State for the Civil Service.
Read also: Accused of sexual assault, Georges Tron resigns
Brigitte Gruel refuting all the facts with which she is accused, her questioning essentially consisted of a litany of denials.
No, Georges Tron and she did not share an
"extraordinary bond"
;
they were simply
“often in agreement”
.
No, she was not in love with
"Monsieur le Maire"
;
they had
"friendly relations"
and she felt
"admiration"
for him.
However, she was aware of the rumors that were circulating about them.
At the town hall, some even nicknamed her
"La Pompadour"
and
"Madame Tron"
...
No, she did not have sexual relations with Georges Tron;
the only physical relations they maintained were
"of the order of reflexology", "passion"
assumed by the chosen one.
And above all, no, no, no: she has
"never"
caressed
"on the chest, at the level of the sex", "undressed",
"
practiced cunnilingus"
or even
"penetrated with a finger"
Virginie Ettel or Éva Loubrieu during threesome scenes with Georges Tron, at the town hall, at his home or at the restaurant.
“It never existed, never happened.
It's not me, ”
repeats Brigitte Gruel, shaking her head.
To read also: Tron trial: "I was their sex object, their thing", claims a complainant
A compromising cover
“If everything is false
”, why do the complainants claim to have been abused?
"I think that Virginie Ettel and Éva Loubrieu have put together a scenario, especially to touch Mr. Tron, to bring him down",
proclaims the accused,
"convinced that a plot"
has been hatched against the mayor.
Why, then, implicate him in these accusations?
Because the complainants "
resented him on a professional level",
replies Brigitte Gruel, who recounts having
"reported that [Virginie Ettel] was not doing her job"
and having
"informed
" Georges Tron of purchases made by Éva Loubrieu who "
had no place to be ”.
To read also: Trial for "rapes": "All this is only a plot against Mr. Tron", considers his co-accused
The former Culture Assistant has a harder time providing convincing explanations on the cover seized by investigators in June 2011 at the town hall of Draveil.
This green briefcase contained files relating to several people, including the complainants.
“I was given these documents while asking me to provide a chronology on Virginie Ettel.
I didn't ask myself any questions at all.
[...] When the affair came out, I gathered all the documents that I had at home and I had them spontaneously delivered to the town hall.
If I had had anything compromising, I would have thrown it away! ”
Only an intervention of Me Antoine Vey, the counsel of Georges Tron, allows the questioning to temporarily get out of this bad patch.
The lawyer believes that the president is
"aggressive"
with Brigitte Gruel and let it be known.
The tone rises quickly.
The magistrate, particularly attentive since the beginning of the trial to the good conduct of the debates, suspends the hearing for the lunch break.
On resumption, the moment has passed, and the assaults of civil party lawyers jostle the accused without allowing to know more about this famous green pocket, exposed at the hearing by the bailiff.
Citing several times her absence of memories on episodes over ten years old, Brigitte Gruel persists and signs on the facts with which she is accused:
"All that is completely false"
.
Friday, it will be Georges Tron's turn to be questioned.
Then this appeal trial will enter its home straight: pleadings of civil party lawyers on Monday, indictment of the attorney general and pleadings of defense lawyers on Tuesday, last words of the defendants, deliberation and verdict on Wednesday.
The accused, acquitted at first instance, face twenty years of criminal imprisonment.
