Lawyers, including those of Richard Berry whom his eldest daughter Coline accuses of incest, denounced Monday, February 15 for various reasons the dangers induced by "
the media tribunal
" in cases of sexual violence.
Read also: Incest: Eric Dupond-Moretti wants a threshold of non-consent at 18
In a column published in
Le Monde
dated Tuesday, six criminal lawyers are particularly concerned that "
the prosecution, informed of sexual violence for which the statute of limitations is no doubt, systematically opens a preliminary investigation rather than observing the automatic extinction of public action
”and“
to explain the role of prescription, the merits of the non-retroactivity of criminal law or the current state of the law which, henceforth, makes all these crimes almost imprescriptible
”.
"
The media tribunal ended up contaminating the judiciary,
" say the signatories including Me Hervé Temime, one of Richard Berry's counsel, who disputes the accusations.
This "
process leads to considerable inequality of treatment between litigants: not all victims have the power to make known what they claim to have suffered, who by publishing a book, who by making a film, or even by simply mentioning the famous patronymic of such actor, writer or public figure
”, continue Marie Dosé, Céline Lasek, Delphine Meillet, Christian Saint-Palais and Daniel Sulé-Larivière.
For Me Sophie Obadia, who also defends Richard Berry, "
there is an inequality of arms: the media tribunal highlights the complaint and the word of the accused person is not received in the same way
".
"
If we bring into the public square prescribed cases that justice will not analyze contradictorily with the seizure of an examining magistrate, then it becomes impossible to have a calm debate
," she regretted.
In an interview with
France Info
broadcast Monday, Coline Berry-Rojtman explains why she filed a complaint for "rape and sexual assault".
The Paris public prosecutor's office opened on January 25 an investigation to examine these facts, dating back to 1984-1985 and probably prescribed.
"
It was that or I'm dying,
" added Coline Berry-Rojtman, heard several hours Thursday by the brigade for the protection of minors.
The accusations of the daughter of the comedian "
are flaky
", regretted Me Obadia, "
while I would like my client to be quickly heard: he has a lot of things to say, answers to provide, clarifications to give
".
The Paris prosecutor's office, first concerned by these criticisms, justifies its investigations, by invoking in particular the search for possible other non-prescribed facts.
What happened recently for modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel and skating coach Gilles Beyer, both indicted.
Potential victims were identified once the investigations started.
