Published on October 10, 2024 at 3:53 p.m.
The Paris Court of Appeal maintains the proceedings against Jean-Luc Lahaye, accused of rape of minors – © Jerome Mars/SIPA
Jean-Luc Lahaye, star of the 1980s, remains subject to legal proceedings for rape and sexual assault on minors. The Paris Court of Appeal refused to place him under the status of assisted witness, despite the arguments of the defense.
Another big name in the French cultural world tainted by accusations of sexual violence. The Paris Court of Appeal refuses to drop the charges against Jean-Luc Lahaye, accused by two young women of rape and sexual assault when they were minors.
The Court of Appeal rejects the status of assisted witness
The defense of the star of the 1980s had seized the investigating chamber of the court of appeal after the refusal of the investigating judge to place him under the more favorable status of assisted witness for the facts denounced by one of the two plaintiffs. This request was based in particular on inconsistencies noted in his accusations, two sources close to the case told AFP during the hearing on June 27.
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Despite this request, “the investigating chamber confirmed the refusal of placement under the status of assisted witness taken by the investigating judge”, indicated the judicial source. A decision which naturally delighted the plaintiff’s lawyer Me Nathalie Bucquet who declared: “My client is relieved by this decision and hopes that the investigation will soon be completed. »
“We expect the investigating judge to stand at an equal distance between the complainant and the accused”
Jean-Luc Lahaye’s defense did not agree. “We expect the investigating judge to stand at an equal distance between the complainant and the accused,” the singer’s two lawyers, Sophie Obadia and Bertrand Burman, reacted to AFP. “This complainant has not communicated all of the information requested from her for months and months. The numerous testimonies of women in favor of Jean-Luc Lahaye are never taken into account,” they regretted. They also deplored that their client could no longer practice his profession.
Jean-Luc Lahaye, now aged 71, was indicted on November 5, 2021 in Paris, notably for “rape and sexual assault of minors over 15 years old”. Two young women, born in 1998 and 2000, accuse him of sexual violence when they were minors. The alleged facts, which began at the end of 2013, are firmly contested by the person concerned. At the end of March, his lawyers had obtained before the investigating chamber the cancellation for formal defects of an expert report on the influence that the former star could have exercised over these two young girls at the time. .
