The facts date back to the summer of 2014. Jorge Arias, 51, already sentenced in 2018 for abusing six women who came to consult him as an osteopath, is appearing from Monday March 14 before the Lyon Assize Court for "rape".
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A complaint was filed in May 2018 by a young woman now 27 years old.
The latter had then assured that Jorge Arias would have engaged in touching and sexual acts during osteopathy sessions in his office in the 9th arrondissement of Lyon.
A dancer turned naturopath
Recommended by a relative of the plaintiff, this osteopath would have encouraged the young woman to follow “
a new method
” which resulted in sexual acts.
When filing a complaint, the victim reported psychological influence exercised in a medical context when she was experiencing personal difficulties.
She will not file a complaint until four years later, in May 2018, after having read in the local press several accounts of the first trial of Jorge Arias for similar acts committed between 2013 and 2015 on six victims.
He was then sentenced to twelve years' imprisonment for "rape" and "sexual assault".
“
The first trial mentioned in the press allowed him to have the courage to file a complaint.
This case shows the mechanisms of influence and manipulation by a medical discourse,
“said Mélissa Masseron, the victim’s lawyer.
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During this trial, which should last two days, the personality of the accused should be at the heart of the debates.
A native of Colombia, Jorge Arias arrived in France to take classes at the Center National de Danse Contemporaine in Angers.
A qualified dance teacher, he quit dancing at the age of 30 and converted to a naturopath claiming to have trained in Colombia.
Examined by an expert psychiatrist, the latter evokes in his analysis a “
psychic functioning of a perverse nature where his position of professional authority serves his hold on the victim observed as vulnerable
”.
The accused agreed to have "
practiced without any ethical framework by seizing the vulnerability of his clientele to satisfy his personal sexual urges
“, specifies the expertise.
“
The facts of this trial are part of a period for which my client has already been sentenced to twelve years in prison.
The victim in this case was not identified at the time.
He admitted the facts, he does not dispute his responsibility
, ”argued the defense lawyer, Me Samir Driss.
The verdict is expected Tuesday, March 15.
