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.
But “the investigating chamber confirmed the refusal of placement under the status of assisted witness taken by the investigating judge”, indicated the judicial source.
“We expect the investigating judge to stand at an equal distance between the complainant and the accused,” reacted to AFP the singer’s two lawyers, Mes Sophie Obadia and Bertrand Burman.
“This complainant has not communicated all of the elements 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, adding that “this popular singer (should) be able to practice his profession”.
“My client is relieved by this decision and hopes that the investigation will soon be completed,” Me Nathalie Bucquet, lawyer for the young woman, told AFP.
“Death could be a deliverance”: Jean-Luc Lahaye’s letter written in prison
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 he disputes, began in 2013.
At the end of March, his lawyers obtained before the investigating chamber the annulment for formal defects of an expert report on the influence that the former star could have exercised over the two young girls.
