The investigation opened by the Paris public prosecutor's office into the rape charges against former PRG minister Jean-Michel Baylet has been dismissed due to the prescription of the facts, we learned on Friday from a source familiar with the matter. confirmed by the Paris prosecutor's office.
The boss of the Dépêche du Midi is accused by Nathalie Collin, daughter of former PRG senator Yvon Collin, of rape and sexual assault when she was between 12 and 14 years old, in the early 1980s, which he dispute.
The former PRG minister had been confronted in October for five hours at the headquarters of the Paris judicial police with the complainant.
An investigation opened in 2020
On the denunciation of Nathalie Collin, the Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation on June 9, 2020 for "rape" and "sexual assault" on a minor under the age of 15.
The former president of the Left Radical Party (PRG) was heard in a free hearing at the end of February by the police.
The former president of the Radical Left Party (1996-2016) and former senator participated four times in left-wing governments under the presidency of François Mitterrand and then François Hollande, for whom he was Minister for the Development of the Territory, Rurality and Local Authorities.
Jean-Michel Baylet is also one of the owners and chairman of the press group La Dépêche du Midi, and is vice-chairman of the Alliance de la presse d'information générale.
Current mayor of Valence-d'Agen (Tarn-et-Garonne), he was re-elected to the departmental council of Tarn-et-Garonne but decided to leave the presidency of the department.
