French policeman ordered to pay 1,000 euros for insulting lady who reported sexual assault
A French police officer has been ordered to pay 1,000 euros, or roughly $1,000 after he described a girl who filed a sexual assault grievance as a “whore”, a supply near the case stated on Saturday.
In a case that sparked outrage in France, the lady, then 34, filed a grievance at a Paris police station in February 2022, saying she had been assaulted on the street after a number of drinks on an evening out.
A male police officer later referred to as her on the cellphone to ask her to return again and end the paperwork. After he left a message — pondering he had hung up — he began insulting her, calling her a “whore” 3 times.
The case sparked indignation from activists, who stated it mirrored what number of law enforcement officials handled victims of sexual violence.
French statistics in 2017 confirmed that over 80,000 grownup girls face rape or tried rape yearly within the nation however solely 10% file a grievance, the Related Press reported.
However like many international locations throughout the globe, the #MeToo motion prompted social and governmental modifications lately. The variety of reported circumstances of sexual violence has greater than doubled from 2016 to 2023, based on French newspaper Le Monde.
In a uncommon remark, France’s then inside minister, Gerald Darmanin, stated the 33-year-old officer needs to be fired.
The policeman was charged with “private insult due to gender”. However a French court docket cleared the policeman of prison legal responsibility in January 2024. Through the trial, the officer apologized and stated he needed to beg Darmanin to maintain his job.
The girl then appealed towards the choice, asking judicial authorities to acknowledge the officer’s misconduct.
On Jan. 30, the Paris Court docket of Attraction sided with the lady and stated the policeman ought to pay her 1,000 euros, based on a replica of the ruling obtained by AFP.
The police officer repeatedly apologized for his remarks, however insisted that they have been merely an expression of his annoyance at procedural irregularities.
In its ruling, the court docket discovered that “it can’t be disputed that the time period ‘la pute’ (whore) repeated a number of instances is offensive and was, in view of the context, aimed toward (the plaintiff) due to her intercourse”.
The girl’s lawyer Arie Alimi stated it was crucial “to go all the best way” to attract consideration to the bias “in the direction of victims of sexual and gender-based violence and in the direction of victims of law enforcement officials”.
A lawyer for the police officer didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Within the nation’s most up-to-date high-profile case of sexual violence, the previous husband of Gisèle Pelicot, who admitted to drugging and raping her repeatedly for nearly a decade and welcoming dozens of different males to assault her as properly, was discovered responsible of aggravated rape.
Forty-nine males whom Dominique Pelicot introduced into his residence to assault his spouse have been additionally convicted as a part of the identical landmark trial.
Pelicot’s case triggered protests throughout France, and there was hope amongst some demonstrators that the case might result in modifications in controversial French legal guidelines governing sexual consent.
