France: a police officer insults a victim of sexual assault, the prosecution opens an investigation
The 34-year-old young woman had filed a first complaint on the night of February 4 to 5 with police officers from the police station of the 5th and 6th arrondissements of Paris.
REUTERS - BENOIT TESSIER
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
The investigative journal
Mediapart
revealed on Tuesday
the sexist remarks of a police officer recorded on the answering machine of a young woman whom he insults on several occasions when she has filed a complaint for sexual violence.
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The case dates back to the night of February 4 to 5.
a 34-year-old woman is leaving a party with friends when she feels the touching of a man behind her.
Shocked, she called the police and then filed a complaint for “drunken sexual assault”, indicates
Mediapart
.
The next day, a police officer from the police station of the 5th and 6th arrondissements where she had lodged a complaint called her back, leaving a message on her answering machine for her to complete her complaint and clarify the facts.
Believing to have hung up, the official jokes with one of his colleagues: “
I will call her back anyway because she must be sleeping off!
»
Then reading aloud an excerpt from the young woman's complaint, he adds: "
It doesn't actually make sense, the complaint
".
"
Fuck, she refuses the confrontation and more, the whore
," he said then.
As if by chance.
In fact, it was just to bust his balls, I'm sure.
(…) Whore, big whore
”, he concludes, before the handset is well hung up.
Following these revelations, an investigation for "non-public insults" was opened with the Paris prosecutor's office.
Condemning "
unacceptable remarks
", the prefect of police Didier Lallement announced that he had seized the General Inspectorate of the National Police for an administrative investigation and requested the suspension of the police officer as a precaution.
The police officer also incurs a fine of 1,500 euros.
“
We see what really happens when a victim files a complaint
”
Invited to react, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin considered that the official involved no longer had his place in the national police "
This policeman not only smeared all the women who try to file a complaint, but he spat on the uniform of the Republic of its 250,000 other colleagues who do a wonderful job every day.
»
But this answer does not satisfy Marilyne Dubreuil, feminist activist and member of the #DoublePeine collective.
“
For years, the victims have been saying it, we do not believe them.
And there, for once it was recorded, we have proof.
And suddenly, we see what really happens when a victim files a complaint.
Because when these remarks are not made, it is something else.
These are questions when filing a complaint
: "Did you come?"
"But why were you all alone in the street at 2am?"
The police are not trained in dealing with victims of sexual and domestic violence.
And we have a government that only reacts on a case-by-case basis.
»
According to a study by the feminist association #NousToutes, two thirds of victims of sexual violence consider that they have been poorly received in police stations.
►
Also to listen: Violence against women: for Célia Levy "the measures in place are extremely derisory"
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