“France, land of rape impunity?” : feminists denounce the acquittal of the police after the case of 36

Eight years after the alleged facts and an immediate complaint, the nightmare continues for Emily Spanton.

After having condemned in the first instance to 7 years in prison the two police officers whom she accuses of having raped her, the justice reversed its decision last Friday by acquitting them on appeal.

In question: a new psychiatric report declaring her “ 

 ” and

in the testimony of this Canadian tourist, who denounced gang rape by two BRI agents on the evening of April 22, 2014, in the premises of the Parisian police headquarters, at 36, quai des Orfèvres.

More than this judicial twist, which can still be overturned in cassation, the reason for the acquittal made the defenders of the young woman jump.

In a column that we publish below, more than 140 personalities from all walks of life (activists and doctoral feminist associations, historians, writers, authors, actresses), protest that the interpretation of Emily's psychological state has taken the upper hand over physical evidence.

“An intimate lesion observed is not worth more in France than a few A4 sheets from a psychiatrist?

they thunder.

On the day of her complaint, doctors indeed immediately examined Emily, diagnosing unequivocal intimate lesions corroborated by DNA analysis.

Attacking the defendants who "adapt to the elements and evidence of the file",

“More trained judges”

That all this is swept away by the psychological weaknesses of the alleged victim makes no sense, believes Anna Toumazoff, activist to whom we owe the hashtags of denunciation around sexual violence #UberCestOver, #SciencesPorcs and #DoublePeine: “80% victims of such violence subsequently suffered psychiatric disorders,” she recalls.

For Anna Toumazoff, the unstable mental state of victims of sexual assault or rape is precisely a consequence of said act, not an element calling it into question.

“It is essential that women continue to file a complaint, she insists, but it is also necessary that the actors of justice understand, finally, that the disorders following such an attack are normal”.

Lucid, she recognizes however that the judges only see the submerged part of the iceberg,

since only one in ten women lodges a complaint.

“How do you want justice to realize the extent of the problem?

»

The purpose of the forum?

"It's a desperate cry, launches Sabine, a member of the feminist collective Les Grenades, a burst of solidarity, aimed primarily at providing support for Emily.

“Demanding” the cassation of the acquittal “, the activist gives if necessary” go to the street “.

France, land of rape impunity?

France has now become in our eyes the country of rape culture and impunity for rapists.

This open letter is dedicated to all victims of rape in France who, like Emily Spanton on April 22, 2022, saw their rapist(s) acquitted, despite the evidence, despite their complaint, despite their courage - and justice condemn them to injustice for life.

Dear rape victim,

Your country asks victims to file a complaint.

Emily Spanton filed a complaint for rape on April 22, 2014. She filed a complaint on the day of the events, for gang rape against police officers.

A medical file has been established by the Forensic Medical Units.

In this file, material elements have come to corroborate the detailed and precise testimonies on the essential facts, SMS recovered by the expert, medical reports on the post-traumatic state of the victim etc.

A dismissal was pronounced by an investigating judge in 2016 canceled by the Chamber of the instruction, collegial formation, on appeal of the Public Prosecutor, then finally, three years later, a trial which led to a conviction.

However, the defendants obtained an acquittal on appeal on April 22, 2022, to the day eight years after the facts.

Eight years of Emily Spanton's life have been destroyed by trauma following the facts she denounces and this suffering has been amplified by the injustice of French justice.

Emily has survived for eight years, she no longer lives.

Uncertainty: how many more years does it have?

Will Emily therefore now have to appeal to the Supreme Court, if she still has the strength and the means?

Will she have to knock on the door of the ECHR in Strasbourg?

Wouldn't it be better for her to give up?

The men she accuses have been acquitted but Emily is condemned by the collective conscience, by a Latin conscience nourished by prejudices: “the accused were acquitted therefore she lied”.

The verdict was prompted by Emily's "inaccuracies, inaccuracies, even several lies".

The trial was that of the victim.

The acquittal of the police was greeted with applause from relatives and colleagues as the victim left the court of appeal in tears.

Emily Spanton was unprotected.

For eight years we have been throwing her name in the food, we are digging into her private life, we are inflicting expert opinions on her with so-called specialists who will find that the young woman is too smiling, that she is "borderline"... It's only in France that victims are systematically subjected to psychiatric expertise.

Would the sworn shrink have confused symptoms of post-traumatic stress with signs of "non-conforming" personality?

According to what criteria?

Wouldn't we rather start with a psychiatric expertise of the shrink?

So this inexact and subjective science is worth more than the objective and undeniable proofs?

An intimate lesion found is not worth more in France than a few A4 sheets from a shrink?

When we file a complaint for rape, even the police officer who received the complaint will treat us as “bitches” in front of his colleagues, as happened at the police station in the 5th arrondissement.

And even if the police accept to take our complaint.

When you file a complaint, the prosecution will file without further action and when you obtain an examining magistrate after a civil action is filed, the examining magistrate will dismiss the case.

When you get a trial you end up being the "liar", the "nymphomane", the culprit.

2% of rape complaints result in a conviction, rape goes unpunished in France.

He is presumed innocent, you are presumed guilty.

Your country tells you to file a complaint, but the sad legal reality tells you otherwise... File a complaint?

Maybe do a tweet instead… but hey, avoid putting his name anyway.

Thank you.

Signatories:

Agnès Adouaï -

Co-president of a feminist association

Alice Coffin -

French journalist, feminist and LGBT activist

Alix Béranger -

Feminist activist

Alizée Cauvin-L'Heureux

Co-referent of the collective Noustoutes974

Anna Toumazoff -

Activist and writer

Anne Barrier -

Feminist activist

Anne Laure Fontaine

Co-referent of the collective Noustoutes974

Anne-Laure Gruet -

Actress, author, director

Annie Lahmer -

IdF Advisor

Arnaud Gallais -

Co-founder of the Prevent and Protect Collective

Arya Meroni -

Feminist activist

Assa Traoré -

Anti- racist activist

Association ADAR

Association SosfonctionnaireVictim

Astrid Dupuy

Feminist

Bachir Boulegrilet -

Activist and head of victim support association

Bérénice Hamidi -

Feminist

Caroline de Haas -

Feminist activist

Caroline Mecary

Lawyer at the bars of Paris and Quebec, member of the Conseil national des barreaux

Cathy Epstein -

Activist We All 31 (Haute-Garonne)

Cécilia Pottier -

Movement of single mothers

Célia Carrillo

- Feminist activist and member of We All Marseille

Célia Lévy

- Member of the national coordination #NousToutes

Céliane -

Feminist activist

Charlotte Merchandise

Activist for Democracy

Charlotte Pavez

Christine Rabier

Claire Lejeune -

Environmental activist, Member of Parliament for the People's Union

Claudine Cordani

Author and ecofeminist artist, Member of Parliament of the Popular Union

Coline Clavaud-Mégevand -

Freelance Womansplainer

Feminist collective against cyberbullying

Collectif Les Grenades -

Intersectional and inclusive feminist collective

Collectif Les Grenades Feminist Collective (based in Metz) -

Feminist collective

Lesbian Liberation Collective -

LGBT Collective

We All 34 Collective -

LGBT Collective

Committee We All Asnières sur Seine (92) -

Feminist collective

Committee We All Athis-Mons (91)

- Feminist collective

We All Brest Committee (29) -

Feminist collective

We All Grand Est Committee (57)

- Feminist collective

We All Essonne Committee (91)

- Feminist collective

Committee We All Paris 8th/17th (75)

- Feminist collective

Committee We All Paris 9th/10th/18th (75) -

Feminist collective

Committee We All Paris 15th/16th (75)

- Feminist collective

We All Paris Committee

feminist collective center

Committee We All Niort (79)

- Feminist collective

Committee We All North of Yonne (89) -

Feminist collective

Committee We All Saône-et-Loire (71) -

Feminist collective

We All Committee Tarn-et-Garonne (82) -

Feminist collective

Val de Marne We All Committee (94)

- Feminist collective

We All Vendée Committee (85) -

Feminist collective

We All Vienna Committee (86) -

Feminist collective

Committee We All Vigneux-sur-Seine (91) -

Feminist collective

Claire Mansaud

- Feminist

Clémentine Autain

Lfi deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis and journalist

Corinne Leriche

Feminist activist, mother of Julie

Danielle Simonnet

- Councilor of Paris, rebellious France

Delphine Bily

- Member of the national coordination #NousToutes

Delphine Salignon

- Feminist activist noustoutes974

Diane Richard

- Member of the national coordination #NousToutes

Elen Debost -

Departmental Councilor of Sarthe

Elisa Bourdain

- Feminist

Elodie Cellier -

Feminist activist

Elodie Jauneau -

Historian, feminist activist, development manager in an association

Elora Wagner

- Feminist activist (all of us 85)

Emilie Billard

- Activist We All 79 Niort

Fanny Baklouti

- Activist for access to minority rights and collaborator of elected environmentalists

Françoise Nicolas -

Ex-diplomat whistleblower

Gaëlle Scholtus

- Feminist activist We All 57

Giulia Foïs -

Author

Graciane Berrocq-Irigoin

- Activist.

e We All 974 (Reunion)

Hélène -

Activist

Henda Ayari -

Writer and speaker

Heroines 95

- Feminist collective

Ifrikia Kengué

- Feminist

Isabelle Alonso

- Writer

Isabelle Gallet

- Activist We All

Isabelle Segionale

- Author, PhD in mathematics

Jackie de Mari -

Rape survivor and warrior

Jeanne Placed

- -Feminist

Jeanne Mignon

- Therapist, activist We All 85 (Vendée)

Jean-Pascal Van Ypersele -

#MeTooUCLouvain whistleblower

Jérémy Manesse -

Author, actor and translator

Julia Stefanaggi

- Feminist activist

Julie Garnier

- Regional Councilor IDF France rebellious

Julie Souman -

Co-president of the single mother movement

Karine Isambert -

Theater teacher, ambassador of the Association Stichting Cassandra

Karine Plassard -

Feminist activist

Karine Veysset

Activist We All 31

Kim Geraudel

- Lab technician, support for #NousToutes

Laly Le Borgne

Laura Domenge -

Comedian

Laura Pandolfi-Paoli -

Illustrator #IwasCorsica, feminist activist

Lauren Bastide -

Journalist

Laurent Boyet -

President of the Association Les Papillons

Laury-Anne Cholez -

Journalist

Léa Boman -

PhD student and member of the #NousToutes national coordination

Lena Ben Ahmed

-

Member of the national coordination #NousToutes

Linda Payet Feminist activist

-

Municipal councilor and member of We All 44

Lorraine Alexandre

Artist, Paris 19th/20th committee

Lorraine

Tonolli-

Activist of the collective Noustoutes974

Lou Godbold

- Director,

Louis Bonnefond -

Political activist

Lydie Cochereau

Madeline Da Silva

- Feminist activist

Mama Doucoure

Mariane Fischman

Feminist activist

Marie Coosemans

Feminist activist

Marie-Charlotte Moreau-

Feminist activist

Mathilde Larrère

Historian

Maëlle Noir

PhD student and member of the national coordination #NousToutes

Magali Cocaul-André -

We All Activist

Main Violette -

Corsican feminist collective

Marie Albert -

Adventurer, journalist and author

Marie Baudoin

Activist We All 31 (Haute Garonne)

Marie Béjannin -

Feminist activist

Marie Coquille-Chambel-

Feminist activist, doctoral student

Marie Desroles -

Comedian

Marie Fuentes -

Member of the national coordination #NousToutes

Marine Gheeraert

Feminist

Marjorie Bernigaud- Militante féministe

Mathile - Activiste et chansonnière féministe

Mélanie Vogel- sénatrice écologiste

Mélissa Camara- Conseillère municipale à Lille

Melody Minne- Militante Nous Toutes 31 (Haute-Garonne)

Mouvement des femmes kurdes à Toulouse - Collectif

Muriel Salmona - Psychiatre, Présidente de l’association Mémoire Traumatique et Victimologie

Nadehéra Beletreche - Militante féministe et antiraciste, investie aux législatives par le Pôle évologiste sur la 15e circonscription de Paris

Nathalie Dréano- Militante féministe, militante Nous Toutes Marseille

Nina Berthold- Militante féministe

NiUnaMenos- Collectif féministe de lutte(s)

Noëlla Graumann- Psychologue, militante Noustoutes Marseille 13

NousToutes06 - Collectif féministe

Les Orageus.e.s - Association féministe Dijonaise

Paloma Pavan Nuňez- Etudiante et militante #NousToutes

Pauline Salvatico - Chargé-e de mission dans la protection de l’environnement et militante féministe (La Réunion)

Penelope Bagieu - Autrice de bandes-déssinées

Raphaëlle Rémy-Leleu - Conseillère de Paris, Porte parole EELV Ile de France

Romain - Militant à l’Union Populaire

Salomé Vlaud - Éditrice

Sand Van Roy - Étudiante en droit, ambassadrice de l’Association Stichting Cassandra

Sandrine Burghoffer - Militante NousToutes

Sarah Persil - Militante féministe et élue régionale

Sarah Lebailly- Porte-parole, Présidente de la Collective des mères isolées

Shamia Amirali- Militante et trésorière du collectif Noustoutes974

Siham Sabeur- Journaliste acitiviste

Shmissa Harra - Militante LGBT + et féministe

Sophia Antoine - Militante féministe et activiste

Sophie Ruiz- Soignante et militante féministe

Solène Le Monnier - Élue en Bretagne

Sonia da Cruz

Stefania - Militante féministe

Stéphanie Chehab -

Feminist activist

Stop Féminicides -

Feminist collective

Tiphaine Blot -

Reporter

Typhaine D

Feminist activist

Virginie Cresci -

Journalist

Wilfried Capet -

Comedian

Yéléna Mandengué -

Feminist activist We All Paris 9/10/18 (75)

Youlie Yamamoto -

Member of the action group Attac, at the initiative of the "Rosies"

Yuna Miralles -

Feminist activist

Zerrin Bataray

Lawyer and regional advisor Aura Generation.

s

Zitelle in Zerga -

Association committed against sexist and sexual violence