Last week, the French newspaper Le Monde covered an old complaint in the Patrick Poivre d’Arvor affair, dismissed in 2005. But the story of this complainant resembles many other complaints which have targeted the presenter and journalist: justice speaks of seriality.
The legal notion of seriality allows French justice to investigate prescribed facts because they are linked to facts which are not. The victims’ case is strengthened thanks to this connection between the cases.
“This connects the victims to each other. They will fight the fight together and understand that each of them sets aside the statute of limitations for the other,” judged lawyer Corinne Hermann, a specialist in rape and serial killers, in La Matinale on Friday. who represents seven alleged victims of the PPDA case.
For her, a very important force is created between these women and gives them renewed enthusiasm: “The victim’s words are much stronger. With regard to justice, it is also very important, because the sexual attackers are often multiple repeat offenders: recidivism creates this connectedness and this seriality.”
The lawyer further emphasizes: “We forget to look at this seriality which is in itself proof.”
Seriality, a proof
For Hélène Devynck, alleged victim of Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, the notion of seriality can change everything: “In our case, it is absolutely crucial. Because we have a man, Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, who is accused by women since 1981: it’s a very, very long period of impunity and we all say the same thing.” She specifies that there are two or three operating methods: “But we all tell the story with the same words, the same gestures, exactly the same thing.”
As many of these women spoke late, their affairs were supposedly statute-barred: “Seriality makes it possible to break the statute of limitations. For this to be statute-barred, there would have to be periods of ten years during which there was no There have been no complaints since 1985.”
To date, only one case has not been prescribed in this case: the alleged rape of Florence Porcel which occurred in 2009. It could bring other cases to justice.
The importance of the procedure and its repetition
In the notion of seriality of rape, the mode of operation matters a lot. And in the PPDA affair, there is a repetition of the way of doing things: a visit to the 8 p.m. set then a visit to his office and an alleged rape: “Afterwards, we must demonstrate the guilt of the author for this yours, obviously,” remarks lawyer Corine Hermann. “But it is also an argument of proof because when you have ten, fifteen, twenty women who come to tell the same thing, it is proof in itself. Because when they use the same language, describe the same facts, the same operating methods, we are in front of a series.”
The complaint, revealed by the newspaper Le Monde, reports the same operating procedure at the TF1 headquarters where searches were carried out at the time.
>> Lire : Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, the fall of an untouchable on French TV
From PPDA to Dominique Pelicot
This seriality is found in the Gisèle Pelicot affair, named after this woman who was drugged and then delivered without her knowledge to men by Dominique, her own husband. The modus operandi and the serial rapes are the common points in these two cases.
“I’m destroyed, I don’t know how I’m going to rebuild myself, get back up from all this,” Gisèle Pelicot said last week on the stand.
A feeling that Hélène Devynck understands: “We don’t feel very powerful as a victim… Even if things change a little, they change slowly. There are still a lot of archaisms which mean that some of us don’t absolutely do not want to be called ‘victims’ For example, Gisèle Pelicot says she wants to testify openly and for the videos to be broadcast so that the shame changes sides. But rape is still a particular crime which covers the victim with shame. And I think that this shame, we never completely get rid of.”
In the Pelicot affair, a woman is alone against fifty-one rapists (read box). In that of PPDA, it is a single accused facing several women, all awaiting trial. The former 8 p.m. star has been indicted for almost a year for the alleged and non-prescribed rape of Florence Porcel. He is still presumed innocent to this day.
Note that in Switzerland, seriality is called a “concurrence of offenses”, but the latter does not oblige a prosecutor to investigate a prescribed case.
Sujet radio: Natacha Van Cutsem
Web article: Stéphanie Jaquet
