Sexual assault

Probe into 100 sexual assaults and rapes at French engineering school

France — Link

An anonymous audit was conducted among 2,386 students, by email, in June and July this year. The survey "highlights particularly worrying situations of sexist and sexual violence", CentraleSupélec said in a statement.

Paris train and bus operator RATP accused over handling of sexual violence cases

France — Investigation

The huge public transport operator for the Paris region, Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens, better known by its initials RATP, faces claims over the way it handles allegations of sexual and sexist violence against its female staff. Pregnant employees say they have been badly treated, some women say that perpetrators of sexual violence against them have gone unpunished, while others say that the transport operator's internal procedures dealing with such allegations are not sufficiently clear. Célia Mebroukine investigates the allegations involving the world’s fourth largest public transport operator.

Writing on the wall: the French women shaming male violence

France — Link

Across Paris and other cities and towns around France, women activists are leading an original and striking poster campaign to raise awareness over sexual and domestic violence in the country, and their example is now being followed by others across Europe.

French commentator Éric Zemmour accused of sexual violence against women

France — Investigation

On April 24th 2021 a female councillor publicly accused French journalist and polemicist Éric Zemmour of having forcibly kissed her. Mediapart has gathered the accounts of several other women who have also condemned the actions and behaviour of the journalist from Le Figaro newspaper and CNews news channel, whom some on the far-right want to be a candidate in next year's presidential election in France. When approached by Mediapart, Zemmour declined to respond to the allegations. Lénaïg Bredoux, David Perrotin and Marine Turchi report.

Former French minister jailed for rape and sexual assault

France — Link

Georges Tron, a conservative former minister and mayor of Draveil, a southern Paris suburb, has been handed a sentence of five years in jail, two suspended, after he was found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a female member of his townhall staff.

Godson accuses French cinema board head of sexual assault

France — Link

Film producer Dominique Boutonnat, 51, president of France's prestigious National Cinema Centre, the CNC, has been placed under investigation on suspicion of sexual assault and attempted rape on his godson after the 22-year-old filed a complaint over events he alleged took place in Boutonnat's villa in Greece last summer.

French court to rule on landmark case of 22 firemen accused of raping a child

France

France’s highest appeal court, the Cour de cassation, on Wednesday examined the case of Julie, a young woman who accuses 22 Paris firemen of raping her over a two-year period when she was aged between 13 and 15. The accused claim the child consented to the sexual relations, and at the end of a ten-year investigation just three of them face trial for sexual abuse after criminal charges of rape were dropped. The Cour de cassation will announce its ruling on March 17th when Julie, and the feminist and child protection associations supporting her cause, hope the case against the accused will be amended to rape. For Julie, who agreed to be interviewed by Mediapart, the future decision of the Cour de cassation represents her last chance to seek justice.  

French modelling agent and Epstein associate jailed

International — Link

Modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, 74, who was an associate of disgraced late US financier Jeffrey Epstein to whom he is accused of trafficking women and minors as well as also raping and assaulting models in France, has been formally placed under investigation and remanded in preventive detention following his arrest at Charles-de-Gaulle airport on Wednesday.

French modelling agent close to Jeffrey Epstein arrested

France

French modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who allegedly procured young women and minors for the late Jeffrey Epstein, was taken into police custody for questioning on Wednesday at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport as he prepared to board a flight to Senegal. Brunel, 74, is a central figure in ongoing investigations into Epstein’s suspected sex-trafficking network in France, and is himself accused by several women of rape and sexual assault.

Former soldier breaks 'code of silence' over sexual violence in French Foreign Legion

France — Investigation

Alex Held, who joined France's iconic fighting force in 2015, made a formal complaint in December 2019 following the unwanted physical advances of a superior. The former legionnaire, an American, is still seeing a psychiatrist and is taking anti-depressants as a result of his ordeal. The Legion insists that it has “heavily punished” the warrant officer concerned plus two others accused of having failed to raise the alarm. But the punishment administered is at the lower end of those available in a fighting force which sees itself as the “height of virility”. Sophie Boutboul reports.

Former French president Giscard accused of groping reporter

International — Link

A German journalist with the WDR television network has accused former French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, 94, of fondling her buttocks during an interview which his spokesman said he cannot remember. 

French football team chairman under investigation for sex assaults

France — Link

The chairman of French top-flight Ligue 1 team Angers has been placed under formal investigation for 'aggravated sexual assaults' and handed conditional bail over four complaints filed against him by past and female employees.

French ice skaters accuse former coaches of multiple rapes

France — Link

Ten-time French ice skating champion and world championships bronze medal winner Sarah Abitbol has said in an interview this week she was repeatedly raped between the ages of 15 and 17 by her former coach who, along with two fellow instructors, is also accused by three other skaters of rape and sexual abuse when they were minors.

Protestors disrupt Polanski film premiere amid new rape claims

France — Link

A premiere in Paris of Roman Polanski's latest film 'An Officer and a Spy' was cancelled after feminist militants blocked the cinema in a protest against the alleged impunity of the France-based director who, wanted in the US since 1978 for the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl, and publicly accused of several rapes, now faces a fresh allegation that he raped a French actress in 1975.

Probe launched into suspected Epstein sex crimes in France

International

The Paris prosecution services announced on Friday that they have launched a preliminary investigation into suspected “rape” and “sexual assault”, notably of minors, in connection with the activities in France of the late US financier Jeffrey Epstein and others connected to him. The investigation, which has received claims by ten people in France that they were victims or witnesses of sexual violence committed by Epstein and his entourage, will seek not only evidence of crimes that may have been committed in France, but also those involving French victims or perpetrators committed abroad.