French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin was confronted for the first time on Friday before an examining magistrate with the woman who accuses him of rape since 2017, Sophie Patterson-Spatz, at the Paris judicial court.
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This government heavyweight, placed in mid-December under the status of “assisted witness” in this case, is accused of rape, sexual harassment and breach of trust. The confrontation with his accuser, Sophie Patterson-Spatz, lasted about nine hours.
In a press release sent to AFP shortly before 11:30 p.m., the minister’s lawyers, Me Pierre-Olivier Sur and Me Mathias Chichportich, were delighted that “at the end of this confrontation, Gérald Darmanin remains under the status of assisted witness” , which according to them constitutes “proof that no serious or concordant evidence of any offense is accused”.
Asked by AFP, the advice of Ms. Patterson-Spatz has not responded.
The investigation into these facts dating from 2009 was resumed this summer by an investigating judge, following a long procedural battle. The magistrate placed Mr. Darmanin on December 14 under the status of assisted witness, a status that may evolve during the proceedings towards an indictment (indictment) if the magistrate collects “serious or concordant evidence”.
In March 2009, the complainant addressed the elected official, then in charge of the legal affairs department of the right-wing UMP party, to try to revise a 2004 conviction for blackmail and malicious appeals against him. an ex-companion.
According to her, Mr. Darmanin would have dangled his support to the Ministry of Justice via a letter, in exchange for sexual favors that she would have accepted, feeling forced to “go to the pan”, according to her expression in front of the investigators. .
Before the police, in February 2018, Mr. Darmanin confirmed having had a sexual relationship with Ms. Patterson-Spatz, but according to him freely consented and at the initiative of the complainant: “There was no consideration”.
“You still have to measure what it is to be wrongly accused, of having to explain to your parents what happened because, it’s true, I had the life of a young man. “, Explained Mr. Darmanin in July to La Voix du Nord.
Mr. Darmanin, whose appointment as Minister of the Interior had been criticized by feminists, in particular because of this affair, filed a complaint for slanderous denunciation.
Before the confrontation, several sources familiar with the matter told AFP that the judge did not seem convinced that the facts could be criminally qualified as “rape”.
This did not prevent a relative of Mr. Darmanin from recently worrying about accusations that could last, because of the length of the procedure and possible appeals on both sides, likely to “seal” his. political career.
Gérald Darmanin is not the only French personality caught up in the wave of #MeToo, launched in the fall of 2017 with the revelation of the numerous rapes and sexual assaults committed on actresses by the American producer Harvey Weinstein.
The actor Gérard Depardieu was indicted on December 16 for “rapes” on a young actress, while the director Christophe Ruggia or the president of the National Cinema Center, Dominique Boutonnat, were indicted for “sexual assault” .
The media and sports circles have also been affected. The Swiss Islamologist Tariq Ramadan, the former flagship presenter of the TF1 JT Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, the model agent Jean-Luc Brunel or even the skating trainer Gilles Beyer are thus targeted by comparable accusations.
All dispute.