An audience, yes, but on the sly. Despite the confinement, the trial for corruption of minors and detention and dissemination of child pornography images of Christian Quesada, former champion of the "12 Coups de midi", will indeed take place as scheduled this Wednesday, April 8, before the criminal court of Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain). But in very special circumstances. The crack of TF 1's game will be tried behind closed doors and by videoconference from the prison where he has been held in pre-trial detention for more than a year.
"The state of health emergency explains the special and unprecedented conditions of this trial," says a judicial source. In an empty room and with a defendant physically absent, the audience promises to be unusual. "Because of the health crisis, those who have sought so much light will be tried in a closed session," deplores Me Céline Astolfe, lawyer for the Children's Foundation, civil party. Justice with closed curtains loses its educational function. "
This trial was particularly awaited, as the announcement of the arrest of this cathodic hero on March 25, 2019 at his home in Ain, had caused the amazement of his many fans. For six months, between July 2016 and January 2017, the native of Antony (Hauts-de-Seine) had chained 192 victories in the game of general culture presented by Jean-Luc Reichmann, accumulating 809,392 euros in winnings, including 200,000 euros of gifts. A record. In the process, his autobiography - "The Master of noon" (Les Arènes) - in which he recounted his battered life, marked by a difficult childhood, the suicide of his brother and his addiction to cocaine, had passed at 60 000 copies.
A fake teenage girl profile on Facebook
While he was enjoying his new fortune and real popular glory, Christian Quesada was caught up in the courts. The investigation started in May 2017, when Clotilde (the first name was changed), 17, came to a Parisian police station. The teenager recounts having conversed the previous days on Facebook with a certain "Justine" whom she thinks is a girlfriend of her age. However her interlocutor asked her very intimate questions and asked her to send pictures of her naked, which she accepted. "Justine" then offers him to have paid relations with a man. The teenager receives an SMS to make an appointment with her in a Parisian hotel. After hesitating to go there, Clotilde changes her mind and alerts the police.
The investigations did not prove to be very difficult: the owner of the line was identified as being Christian Quesada. Investigators also discover that the 50-year-old made a reservation in his name at the hotel where the appointment was scheduled. Placed in police custody two years later, the champion of the "12 Coups de midi" acknowledges having created on Facebook the false profile of "Justine", as well as that of another fictitious teenager, in order to get in touch with young girls to get intimate photos.
He notably recognizes the exchanges with Clotilde, but assures that he had had no intention of taking action with her. In general, he describes these exchanges with adolescent girls as "spooky delusions". Faced with the gendarmes, he finally admits the possession of numerous child pornography files. The exploitation of its digital media seized during the search will allow the discovery of 1077 videos and more than 30,000 images. Christian Quesada admits to having an "accumulation problem".
Previous convictions
At the time of his arrest, Christian Quesada was already known to the courts for similar acts. In 2003, he was sentenced in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) to two months suspended prison sentence for sexual exhibition. In 2009, he was given a 10-month suspended prison sentence in Créteil (Val-de-Marne) for bribery of minors over 15 years old and possession of child pornography. At the time, he was already posing as a teenage girl on the Internet, always with the aim of obtaining naked photos: 277 photographs of naked young girls had been discovered on his computer. This past undoubtedly weighed heavily in his continued detention.
Divorced and father of two, Christian Quesada explained during the investigation that he did not feel well on a psychological level, sometimes having to take refuge in alcohol to cure a malaise inherited from his own adolescence. He also mentioned an addiction to sex and explained that since 2005, he had never stopped consulting child pornography images. On the other hand, he minimized his image collection, ensuring that he had not voluntarily downloaded the compromising files discovered on his computer, which technical investigations contradicted. The psychiatric expert who examined him did not find any mental pathology in his home, except a slight personality disorder and addictions to alcohol and cannabis.
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VIDEO. Who is Christian Quesada, imprisoned for possession of child pornography images?
The investigation opened after his arrest also made it possible to bring out other facts than those concerning Clotilde. With a generally identical operating mode each time, most often using false profiles, but sometimes also by conversing under his true identity with young girls attracted at the start by his sudden notoriety. In the end, Christian Quesada will be tried for five corruption offenses against minors that occurred between 2017 and 2019. He will also appear for the possession and distribution of his prohibited files, with the aggravating circumstance of recidivism. However, he was dismissed for the alleged sexual assault alleged against him.
Solicited, the lawyer of Christian Quesada did not follow up.