He called her a "whore." In February 2022, a 34-year-old woman filed a complaint in a police station in the fifth arrondissement of Paris for "sexual assault while drunk". A police officer had left her a message on her answering machine to complete her complaint and then, believing he had hung up, he was heard insulting the complainant, Mediapart had revealed.
In this audio recording from the complainant's answering machine, unveiled by the online media, the police officer can be heard joking and adding about the young woman: "She's really a whore. (...) Fuck, she refuses to confront the whore. As luck would have it. Actually it was just to break his balls, I'm sure. (...) Fuck, big whore. »
The Paris prosecutor's office, which had initially closed the complaint against the official, requested in mid-April the opening of a trial, AFP learned Saturday from a source close to the case. According to the prosecutor's office at the time, "the remarks were made without wanting to bring them to the attention of the complainant".
The offence falls under press law
Seized of these facts after a new complaint, an investigating judge indicted the police officer on January 3. In its submissions of April 19, which AFP has seen, the Paris prosecutor's office reiterates its assessment that the police officer spoke "confidentially to his colleagues and without intention of bringing (his remarks) to the attention of the complainant", but considers that as this offence falls under press law, the debate on the merits can only take place before the court.
He therefore requested a trial before the police court for "non-public insult because of sex". The final decision on a hearing rests with the investigating judge. Asked by AFP, the lawyer of the policeman, who admitted the facts during the investigation, had not reacted Saturday.
A case that had caused a reaction
The case had sparked widespread criticism of the police handling of victims of sexual violence. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, had considered that the policeman had "no place" in the profession, and to stipulate: "It is a minority of people in the police. And it's like everywhere, among bakers, journalists! The former prefect of police Didier Lallement had meanwhile seized the "police of the police" (IGPN).
On the side of the police unions, the attitude of the minister had made people cringe. A trade unionist had also told Le Parisien that the policeman "recognizes his mistake. He justifies it by saying that the complaint had been registered incorrectly and that he was annoyed. He apologizes. He should never have said that. »
"The prosecutor's office had dismissed the case without even questioning my client. The judicial path on sexual and gender-based violence does not go through the prosecutor's office, "said the victim's lawyer, Arié Alimi. On the sexual assault itself, he said he had requested that an investigating judge be seized.
