The director David Bobée, newly appointed director of the Théâtre du Nord in Lille, was ordered, on January 28, to pay 6,000 euros in damages to Nâzim Boudjenah, a resident of the Comédie-Française, following a publication on social networks where the director virulently attacked the actor, accused of "violence" on his ex-girlfriend, Marie Coquille-Chambel.
The Judicial Court of Paris, in fact, considered
"that this publication infringed the presumption of innocence"
of the complainant.
Complaint for "violence" and "rape"
The case dates back to last June, when Marie Coquille-Chambel, an influencer, also hosting a YouTube channel on the theater, had spread on social networks, claiming to have lodged a complaint against an actor of the Comédie-Française after that he hit her violently three times.
The man, whom she did not name, also allegedly threatened her with death.
Shortly after these revelations, the identity of the actor was revealed to the public.
She accused Nâzim Boudjenah, forty-eight years old, a resident of a prestigious institution.
The companion, for a time, of the young woman of twenty-two years.
To read also: "Everyone knows but nobody moves": the French public theater in the face of sexual violence
As often, the media machine gets carried away, Marie Coquille-Chambel accompanying her accusations with photos of her molested body and face.
On Facebook and Twitter, the youtubeuse's story becomes a soap opera, followed day by day by the young woman's subscribers.
In the process, the Comédie-Française, saying it was “
deeply shocked”
by these facts, supported the approach of the supposed victim, announcing that it would take “
all the necessary measures”.
The case is currently being judged, a first hearing was held on December 1, before being postponed to May 4 following new accusations, of rape this time, from the complainant against by Nâzim Boudjenah.
"So you are not ashamed of anything, you are three times the age and you are three times the weight of Marie and you play the victim of history?"
"
Extract from David Bobée's Facebook post
On October 9, however, and this while the case had not yet been brought to justice, David Bobée was indignant at the words of Nâzim Boudjenah's lawyer, Me Florence Bourg.
She told AFP (information included in Le Figaro) that her client was going to file a complaint, in turn, against Marie Coquille-Chambel for harassment and slanderous denunciation.
Words that were not to the taste of the director, who then cracked a murderous message on his Facebook account.
"So you are not ashamed of anything, you are three times the age and you are three times the weight of Marie and you play the victim of history?"
Do you want to review the photos and videos of what you did to him during confinement? ”He
wrote.
Read also: Assa Traoré sentenced for violating the presumption of innocence
"It is regrettable that a man of culture, director of a public theater, indulges in such remarks"
Me Florence Bourg, lawyer for Nâzim Boudjenah
Nâzim Boudjenah sued David Bobée for these remarks which he considers to be an attack on the presumption of innocence.
Opinion to which the courts agreed on January 28, condemning the theater director to damages, accompanied by the obligation to withdraw its publication and the reimbursement of legal costs (2,000 euros).
The Paris Judicial Court, specifying that
"the disputed remarks are in reaction
" to the article in
Le Figaro
, justified its sentence by the public nature of this denunciation and the professional environment to which the actor and the director belong.
"The attack thus brought to the presumption of innocence of Nâzim Boudjenah necessarily caused him moral damage by presenting him publicly as guilty to third parties, and this within the same professional and artistic environment, that of the theater and with a not negligible, because of the notoriety of the parties ”
.
Nâzim Boudjenah's lawyer said she was satisfied with this decision.
"By condemning David Bobée, justice firmly recalled the fundamental principle of the presumption of innocence, in the face of the hysterical lynching practiced on social networks,
" she believes
.
It is regrettable that a man of culture, director of a public theater, indulges in such remarks ”
.
"My client takes responsibility for his actions"
Contacted, Me Tewfik Bouzenoune, defender of David Bobée, indicated that he did not wish to appeal the decision.
“My client takes responsibility for his actions,”
assures the lawyer
.
He immediately thought of doing his moral duty by defending, at his own level, the word of a woman who considers herself a victim of violence, but did not assess the consequences that this could have, in particular on the ground of the presumption of innocence ”
.
And to explain the
"epidermal reaction"
of David Bobée by his link with Marie Coquille-Chambel, who would be a close friend of the director, and by the context of denouncing violence against women in culture and theater, in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
Fifteen days after his conviction, which went unnoticed, David Bobée, who had headed the Normandy-Rouen National Dramatic Center since 2013, was appointed, on February 15, director of the Théâtre du Nord in Lille by the Ministry of Culture.
A promotion that is not unanimous in the theatrical world.
Known for his activism and his radical positions, he is, in particular, one of the founders of the collective Décoloniser les arts, subject to criticism because of his racialist ideological background.
In an interview with the Sceneweb site, David Bobée also claims an
“intersectional”
approach
to theater, arguing that
“the world of culture is racist by omission”
.