Islamologist Tariq Ramadan, indicted in France for raping five women, is present on Tuesday before the Geneva prosecutor at the hearing of a woman who accuses him of having raped her in 2008 in Switzerland.
This is the first time that the Islamologist has left France since his indictment in Paris on February 2, 2018.
His judicial review, which prohibited him from traveling outside France, was amended last month to allow him to respond to summons from the Geneva prosecutor for the purposes of the investigation.
Mr. Ramadan and the plaintiff, nicknamed in the media "Brigitte", were confronted twice, in September and October, in the French judges' office, but the Islamologist had so far been prohibited from leaving the territory French.
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As a result of this measure, the Geneva prosecutor in charge of the rape complaint filed in Switzerland against the Islamologist in April 2018 was never able to summon him.
However, he had been able to attend in September, at the Paris court, the first confrontation between Mr. Ramadan and "Brigitte".
Since then, the ban on leaving French territory has been partially lifted, allowing Mr. Ramadan to attend the hearings this week in Geneva, which will be chaired by the Geneva prosecutor Adrian Holloway.
"It's a long-awaited moment"
"The next four days are devoted to hearing witnesses, two per day, and obviously this is an important step that we approach with all the necessary serenity because my client has simply always told the truth", told his arrival shortly before 9 a.m. at the courthouse Me Robert Assael, one of the plaintiff's Swiss lawyers.
Arrived shortly after, Mr. Ramadan, masked and accompanied by his lawyers, declined to comment to the media.
"This is a highly anticipated moment because it will advance the procedure in a really important way and there we can mark our gratitude to the prosecutor who put the hearing of witnesses together over four days," said Mr. Assael.
"These hearings will confirm the reality of the horrible assaults, in particular sexual and violent, suffered by our client," he added.
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"Brigitte", aged 54 today, accuses the Islamologist of having dragged her into a hotel room in Geneva on the evening of October 28, 2008, where he allegedly subjected her to brutal sexual acts, accompanied of beatings and insults.
Converted to Islam, she had met him a few months earlier during a dedication session, then during a conference in September.
An increasingly intimate correspondence followed on MSN and Facebook.
On the evening of the event, she had an appointment with the famous preacher for tea.
Ramadan denounces the "complainant's contradictions"
Mr. Ramadan, who filed a complaint for "slanderous denunciation" against "Brigitte", admitted having met her but gave up the sexual relationship after an exchange of caresses, according to his lawyers.
At the end of his confrontation in France with “Brigitte”, the 58-year-old preacher said he was “very satisfied”, denouncing the “lies, fabrications” and “contradictions of the complainant”.
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At the end of the week of hearings in Geneva, the Geneva prosecutor "will take stock of the case and he could still hear other witnesses, see other acts of investigation", explained Me Assael. to AFP.
"Our goal is for the defendant to be sent to court to be tried," he continued.
