Jean-Luc Brunel, who was found hanged in his cell in his prison of Health in Paris, was to be confronted at his request, on March 11, with two of his accusers.
Indicted for the rape of two women and for sexual harassment of a former babysitter, the former modeling agent – who claimed his innocence – had twice tried to end his life during his incarceration.
If certain sources close to the investigation see in his suicide a "confession", his lawyers believe on the contrary that it is the gesture of a man who "had the feeling of being presumed guilty".
The death of Jean-Luc Brunel undoubtedly marks the end of the investigations in France concerning the “Epstein affair”.
For the investigators, who have been working on this file for several months, it is a "disappointment".
The police officers of the Central Office for the Suppression of Personal Violence (OCRVP) spared no effort and carried out more than half a thousand hearings in an attempt to find other women who were allegedly victims of the former French modeling agent.
When he hanged himself in his cell in the prison of Health, last weekend in Paris, this relative of the American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein was indicted for the rape of two women when they were minors, and for sexual harassment of a former babysitter.
Accused of having played the tout for Jeffrey Epstein, Brunel was also placed under the intermediate status of assisted witness for the facts of "aggravated human trafficking to the detriment of minor victims for the purpose of sexual exploitation".
But the police especially suspected Brunel of having abused, in the 1980s, many young women from modest backgrounds to whom he dangled a career in modeling.
Problem: the facts denounced were often prescribed.
“We would have preferred that he be judged for all of his work, it is obvious”, confides, bitterly, a source close to the file who sees in his gesture a form of “confession”.
Two previous suicide attempts
Since the start of the case, Jean-Luc Brunel, 75, has claimed his innocence.
Arrested in December 2020 at Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Paris, as he was about to take a plane to Senegal, he had been placed in pre-trial detention.
On February 19, at 1:50 a.m., the guards found him hanged in the cell where he was alone.
Despite the intervention of the emergency services, he was declared dead at 2:05 a.m.
According to our information, during the 14 months of his detention, Jean-Luc Brunel had made two suicide attempts.
“We have stressed on many occasions that he was in a very poor state of health.
A psychiatric expert had indicated that there was a particular risk of psychological fragility in the event of prolonged detention, "says
20 Minutes
his lawyers, Mathias Chichportich, Marianne Abrgrall and Christophe Ingrain.
Detained with other VIPs in the QB4 district (for "lower district number 4"), Jean-Luc Brunel was subject to special surveillance by the prison staff.
"If a prisoner has already had suicidal crises, it may be decided, with the doctor, to set up special surveillance", explains Erwan Saoudi, delegate of the prison FO union for Ile-de-France.
“At night, we will go more regularly to check the eyepiece to make sure that the person is well.
A regular prisoner, we're going to do three visual checks during the night.
There, we will almost double the number of controls.
But you can't go there every hour either, because it's also oppressive for the detainee.
You have to find the right balance.
»
" Presumed guilty "
An investigation, entrusted to the 3rd judicial police district, was opened by the Paris prosecutor's office to shed light on the causes of his death.
The investigators can in particular rely on the images of the surveillance cameras installed in the passageway in order to ensure that these checks have been carried out.
The results of the autopsy, which was carried out on Monday, are not yet known, although there is almost no doubt that Jean-Marc Brunel ended his life alone.
According to his lawyers, the man "had the feeling of being presumed guilty and that the media-judicial sentence had already fallen".
“Nothing justified prison, according to the judge of freedoms and detention.
Judicial review would have been the simple and strict application of the law in a case like this,” they add.
At his request, Jean-Luc Brunel was to be confronted on March 11 with two of his accusers: a former babysitter and a foreign model.
“I didn't think my clients were going to agree to the confrontation because I know that psychologically it was quite complex.
We had started working on it and they wanted to go all the way, to take the leap and be in the same room as him.
It's not easy,” says their lawyer, Me Anne-Claire Lejeune.
"It's really a shame"
The death of Jean-Marc Brunel means the extinction of public action, at least in the part concerning the accusations of rape.
For the plaintiffs, it is a feeling of frustration that dominates: Brunel will never have the opportunity to explain himself in court.
“He was still charged and remanded in custody.
My clients are aware that their word has nevertheless been taken into consideration”, nevertheless believes Anne-Claire Lejeune.
Before concluding: “There was a will that went beyond their own interest.
They did it for those who denounced prescribed facts.
There was something quite strong in their gait.
It's really a pity.
»
Justice
Epstein case: Found dead in prison, ex-model agent Jean-Luc Brunel had already made several suicide attempts
World
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Sexual harassment
Justice
Rape
Investigation
Jean Luc Brunel
Suicide
Federal police
Epstein case
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