The Montpellier public prosecutor's office on Monday, January 10 opened a preliminary investigation for kidnapping and forcible confinement after the disappearance of a transgender teenager who was reportedly taken by his family to a center practicing "
conversion therapy
" in central France.
Read alsoThe text on "conversion therapy" retouched in the Senate
In a video posted Sunday on Instagram and seen nearly 10,000 times, a young woman, Julie, explains that her new 17-year-old roommate, Enzo, a theater student at the Florent course in Montpellier, had been taken away last week by her parents after revealing to them that he now wanted to be considered male when he was born a woman.
The appeal of the young woman, visibly very moved, who considers Enzo "
in danger
", was relayed by the association Fierté Montpellier Pride.
The latter indicated on Twitter that Enzo's parents had decided to send him against his will from Monday in Juranville (Loiret) in an establishment where "
conversion therapy
" is practiced , which claim to transform the orientation sexual or gender identity of a person.
New law passed in October
In a press release, the Montpellier public prosecutor, Fabrice Belargent, explained that he had been informed by "
the associative world
" of the "
disappearance of a minor who would have been taken under duress to a place to be determined in order to undergo “conversion therapy”
”. The same facts were also denounced by the Minister Delegate in charge of Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa, on the basis of article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which obliges any official having knowledge of a crime or an offense to 'inform the prosecution, he said. "
Following these reports, the prosecution opened a preliminary investigation into the counts of kidnapping and kidnapping
", Which was entrusted to the territorial direction of the judicial police of Montpellier and to the central direction of the judicial police, specified Fabrice Belargent.
Read alsoMore than 300 religious dignitaries call for a ban on "conversion therapy"
Deputies and senators agreed in October on the joint drafting of a bill to more easily confuse the authors of conversion therapy.
Those who practice them may be punished with two years 'imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros, penalties which can rise to three years' imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros in the event of aggravating circumstances.
Conversion therapy is already punishable through a large number of offenses - abuse of weakness, harassment, discrimination, homophobic comments, etc.
- but these are sometimes "
difficult to apprehend
", according to the LREM group in the Assembly.
