Investigation opened into rape and sexual assault allegations against Patrick Bruel
The prosecutor in Nanterre has opened an investigation against French singer and actor Patrick Bruel for rape, attempted rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment across four cases.
Investigation opened into rape and sexual assault allegations against Patrick Bruel
The prosecutor of the Republic in Nanterre opened formal investigation proceedings on the night of Wednesday to Thursday against French singer and actor Patrick Bruel. The 67-year-old artist faces accusations of rape, attempted rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment across four separate cases.
In four further matters, three of which concern alleged criminal offences, Bruel has been given the status of "assisted witness". This status, in French law, constitutes an intermediate position between a simple witness and a person subject to judicial proceedings. In total, more than thirty women now accuse the artist of inappropriate sexual behaviour of varying severity.
Some of the incidents date back to the 1990s, a period during which the singer enjoyed immense popularity under the name of "Bruelmania". An initial complaint had been filed in 2019 by a massage therapist working at a luxury hotel in Corsica. She was joined by colleagues from three other cities as well as by four other women. These proceedings had been closed in 2020 for lack of sufficient evidence.
It was the publication, in March and May of this year, of two lengthy investigations by the online news site "Mediapart" that revived the matter. These articles brought together twenty-nine new accounts describing assaults ranging from indecent exposure to rape, in some cases aggravated by the alleged minority of the victims or the administration of narcotic substances. Following these revelations, the Nanterre prosecutor's office centralised all complaints, preliminary investigations and closed proceedings scattered across the country.
Among the women who have testified publicly are Daniela Elstner, chief executive officer of Unifrance, and television presenter Flavie Flament. The latter had already denounced in a work published in 2016 the abuse she suffered as a teenager at the hands of photographer David Hamilton. She states that Bruel assaulted her three years later.
The artist contests all allegations and benefits from the presumption of innocence.
Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung