Eight years in prison were required Monday evening October 25 against the star of Congolese rumba Koffi Olomide, on appeal in Versailles for sexual assault and kidnapping of four of his ex-dancers.
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Faced with the Franco-Congolese singer, present at the hearing, the prosecution asked to return to the
"shipwreck"
of the first judgment and to find guilty this
"powerful man"
, international star who now lives in France.
At first instance, the Nanterre court had sentenced him in March 2019 to two years in prison for
“sexual assault”
on one of these young women, declared a minor at the time of the facts.
The prosecution, which had requested seven years' imprisonment, appealed against this sentence.
The star singer from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was acquitted of the charges against three of the dancers.
The judgment will be reserved at a later date.
Four Congolese women, who lodged a complaint between 2007 and 2013 and are civil parties to the trial, accuse Koffi Olomidé of having locked them in a guarded pavilion near Paris, during his French tours, and of having forced them to have sex with him, on a regular basis for some.
Since then, none has returned to the Congo out of
"fear"
of the consequences in the face of an international star whom they nicknamed the
"president"
before the affair
.
One said she made at least one suicide attempt.
Read alsoSexual assault: the Paris Music Conservatory in the turmoil of investigations
His real name Antoine Agbepa Mimba, Koffi Olomide, light sweater under a large brown jacket, spoke for the first time publicly on the case, denouncing the
"lies"
of the civil parties in his deep voice.
"These are concerted narratives
,
"
a
"plot"
to
"destroy my career,"
he said. Kidnapping? They
“went to the Champs-Élysées”
freely, he assures us. They could only go out when escorted?
"They asked that we accompany them"
, continues the singer. Kokki Olomide, however, admitted that he had a
"right to oversee"
their outings because
"in the Congo, they all have the French dream"
.
He pleaded that he had to verify that they were not seeking to remain in France illegally after the Paris tour.
Two other men, close to the singer who now lives in France, are also retried, accused of complicity.
One of them - who also evokes
"lies"
from the civil parties in order to stay in France - admitted that he was
"obliged"
to follow them when they left the pavilion, because
"they did not know the road. "
, For shopping for example, he said.
Read alsoAccused of sexual assault at the Paris Conservatory: Bachelot follows "closely"
It is in this context that, according to the complainants, the singer allegedly sexually assaulted them.
"It happened in hotels, sometimes in the car (...) in recording studios ..."
, said one of them, in tears at the bar.
"It's false, it's all false,"
exclaimed Koffi Olomide before,
"at no time was I alone with these girls,"
he strove to repeat. During the investigation, he was initially indicted for rape, before being re-qualified.
"How can you have sex in a studio?" I'm hallucinating! There are sound engineers, there are assistants ... It doesn't exist! "
, he launched before the testimony of the civil parties.
They said they were forced to have sex
"several times"
and then
"three times a week"
for one or
"three or four times a month"
for another.
"I let myself go, but I did not want"
, explained one of them at the bar, her lawyer Me David Desgranges speaking of
"hold"
of the singer on his troops.
Koffi Olomide has already been convicted in the DRC in 2012 for violence, and was expelled from Kenya in 2016 for having kicked one of his dancers.
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