France: the prosecution requests a trial at the assizes for the Islamologist Tariq Ramadan, accused of rape

Swiss Islamologist Tariq Ramadan, during a hearing at the Paris Courthouse on December 16, 2021. AFP - BERTRAND GUAY

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The Paris prosecutor's office on Tuesday July 13 requested a trial at the assizes for the Tariq Ramadan case, the Swiss Islamologist being accused of rape by four women between 2009 and 2016. He is accused of " 

 " against three complainants and " 

 " for a fourth.

The final decision in a trial at the assizes rests with the two investigating judges in charge of the case.

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The case that caused

began in October 2017. Henda Ayari, an ex-Salafist who became a secular activist, and another woman nicknamed "Christelle" filed a complaint against him, respectively denouncing a rape in 2012 in Paris and a in 2009 in Lyons.

He was indicted in February 2018 and imprisoned for 10 months in Fleury-Mérogis prison.

In this emblematic file of the #MeToo era, Tariq Ramadan first denies having had extramarital sex.

Then he concedes, in front of the photos and messages that the investigators found in his computer, " 

 " rough, but " 

 ".

In February, then October 2020, the 59-year-old Islamologist was indicted for the rapes of three

.

And last April, an expert report concluded that Tariq Ramadan had

on the complainants, in view of the admiration, even veneration on the part of the latter.

For the prosecution, consenting to a sexual relationship does not mean “ 

 ”.

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