Judo coach Alain Schmitt denounced Thursday the "
media lynching
" of which he considers himself a victim since his release from the facts of domestic violence of which his partner and Olympic champion Margaux Pinot accuses him, and reaffirmed his innocence.
On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, the Bobigny Criminal Court released the 38-year-old judoka after a hearing for immediate appearance, considering “
not having enough evidence of guilt
”.
The prosecution appealed against this judgment.
This decision aroused indignation in the world of judo and on social networks, the justice finding itself accused of a supposed laxity towards domestic violence. The controversy is fueled by the publication on Wednesday on the internet, by Margaux Pinot herself, of a photo of her swollen face shortly after the facts.
“
There was an appeal (from the prosecution), it's justice. They have the right to do it and they have done it. Now, what I do not respect, however, is the media lynching that has been carried out around this. Instagram, Twitter, it's anything but a court,
”said Alain Schmitt, a huge bruise on the upper right part of the face, during a press conference Thursday afternoon. Margaux Pinot, 27, accuses her companion and ex-trainer within the Etoile Sportive du Blanc-Mesnil club of having beaten him, hit his head against the ground but also of having tried to strangle him during 'an altercation on the night of Saturday to last Sunday at his home in Blanc-Mesnil (Seine-Saint-Denis).
Read also Pinot case: "He did not strike any blow", assures the lawyer of Alain Schmitt who denounces "slander"
Following a call to 17 from a neighbor where Margaux Pinot had taken refuge, the police arrested Alain Schmitt shortly after.
In front of the press and alongside his lawyers, Alain Schmitt again denied the version of his companion and categorically denied having hit her.
According to him, Margaux Pinot did not want him to take his scheduled flight a few hours later to Israel, where he was to coach the national women's team.
She would have thrown herself on him and they would then have fought like a judo match, rolling in the middle of the apartment.
"
She hit me hard in the door, then we went from right to left, in the wall, in the radiator ... We really hit everywhere
", described Alain Schmitt.
The Israel Judo Federation has announced that it has suspended all contact with Alain Schmitt after the court ruling.