Three new complaints for rape and sexual assault against Patrick Bruel
Three additional women have filed complaints against French singer and actor Patrick Bruel for rape, attempted rape and sexual harassment, as the Nanterre prosecutor's office had already opened an investigation in June.
Three new complaints for rape and sexual assault against Patrick Bruel
Three additional women have filed complaints against Patrick Bruel for rape, attempted rape and sexual harassment, confirmed by the complainants to the AFP news agency, following revelations by the investigative website Médiapart. These new proceedings were undertaken on 25 June and 1 July with the Nanterre prosecutor's office, near Paris. Two of them concern alleged rapes of minors; the third concerns sexual harassment.
Among these three new accusations, only one relates to facts that have not been time-barred. The first complainant claims to have been raped by the artist at an international poker tournament in 2014. The second, a former fan who met him at his concerts, accuses him of rape and attempted rape that occurred in the 2000s. She asserts that she made it clear she did not wish to have any sexual relationship with him. The third complainant denounces sexual harassment she suffered at the age of 15 in September 1992 in New York, while working as a volunteer at the US Open.
The artist's lawyers, Fanny Colin, Céline Lasek and Christophe Ingrain, indicated to AFP that their client would respond "in the only relevant and appropriate framework: that of justice, should it take up these matters". They denounced "false accusations".
The 67-year-old singer had already been placed under investigation in June in four separate cases following a 48-hour period of custody. He had been released subject to judicial supervision, with the investigating judge rejecting the prosecutor's request for provisional detention. He is notably being prosecuted for a rape committed in 2008 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, an attempted rape in 2010 in Brussels, acts of sexual assault and violence in 2019 in Perpignan, and sexual harassment the same year in Ajaccio in Corsica.
In four other matters — a rape in 2012 in Dinard, a rape in 2015 in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, two attempted rapes in 2010 and 2011 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, and sexual harassment in 2019 in Nyon in Switzerland — Patrick Bruel has been placed in the status of "assisted witness". This means he has been implicated without being the subject of a direct charge in these matters.
Another case, relating to an alleged rape in 2000 in Grenoble, was closed as time-barred.
The conditions of his judicial supervision are strict: the artist cannot leave French territory, must refrain from all contact with the victims and their relatives, and is forbidden from frequenting massage salons. He is also required to undergo mandatory psychological monitoring and has had to pay a security deposit of 500,000 euros.
Source: Index