The Rouen Court of Appeal will deliver its decision on April 28 on the conviction of a 26-year-old young man who had called Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin a "dirty rapist" in 2020.
Remarks made during a tribute ceremony
Monday during the hearing, the general prosecutor's office requested confirmation of the conviction for contempt of a fine of 1,500 euros pronounced on December 14, 2020. The facts occurred on July 26 in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during a tribute ceremony to Father Hamel assassinated in 2016 in this town.
“I am not here to defend the Minister of the Interior.
Freedom of expression has its limits regardless of the person concerned,” argued Advocate General Patrice Lemonnier.
"There is an attack on dignity given the terms used," he said in his indictment.
The defendant, a member of the CGT
The defendant, a fitter in the automotive industry who is a member of the CGT, did not wish to answer the court's questions but read a statement: "it's true that I shouted, I recognized him on guard on sight.
I am quite interested in political issues.
The fact that a minister is implicated in two rape cases, that annoyed me.
“Many people may think that Darmanin is a rapist,” reacted the Advocate General, stressing “but it is forbidden to say so at this stage of the procedure”.
A request for relaxation
The defense lawyer, Me Chloé Chalot, for her part asked for the release: “The conviction would be an attack on freedom of expression.
It is a question of the free political contestation of the appointment of Gérald Darmanin to the post of Minister of the Interior when he is implicated by two women in criminal proceedings, ”she said.
She also asked for the nullity of the procedure, considering that "there is a poor qualification of the facts by aiming for contempt and not defamation".
A rape complaint 5 years ago
Darmanin was the subject of a rape complaint in 2017 by a woman who had approached him in 2009 to try to have a conviction overturned.
For Darmanin, it was a voluntary relationship.
Initially dismissed, the procedure was relaunched in June 2022 by the Paris Court of Appeal, which had requested new investigations.
Then in early 2022, the Paris prosecutor's office requested a dismissal.
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Gerald Darmanin
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