French police launched an appeal Tuesday for witnesses in the case of a writer accused of raping a minor and who repeatedly described relationships with underage teens in his work, the top Paris prosecutor said, reports FRANCE 24.
Prosecutors have already launched a rape investigation into author Gabriel Matzneff after a bombshell book by publisher Vanessa Springora claimed they had a sexual relationship three decades ago, starting when she was 14.
Commentators have described the ensuing furore as a possible turning point in France after decades of what some view as an overly permissive attitude towards sexual exploitation of women and children.
In her book "Consent", Springora described how she was seduced by Matzneff and how this left lasting scars.
Matzneff has never made any secret of his preference for sex with adolescent girls and boys, including on trips to Asia. In the mid-1970s, he published a notorious essay called Les Moins de Seize Ans ("Those under 16").
"An appeal for witnesses will be launched today by the police services who we have mandated to carry out the investigation," Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz told Europe 1 radio.
"As well as the events described by Vanessa Springora" the investigation "will seek to identify any other possible victims who could have suffered violations of the same nature, on national territory or abroad", he added.
The responsibility of prosecutors is to make sure there are "no forgotten victims", Heitz said.
While Springora met investigators in January, the events described by her may not be possible to go before a court in a trial due to the statute of limitations.
"If there are other victims," the system must "allow them to speak, take into account what they say, and pursue the perpetrator," Heitz said.
Matzneff, 83, has long been tolerated, admired and even protected in Paris literary circles. In 2013, he won the prestigious Renaudot prize.