The Paris Court of Appeal refused, this Thursday, October 10, 2024, to drop the proceedings against Jean-Luc Lahaye for one of the two young women who accuse him of rape and sexual assault when they were minors, learned theAgence France-Presse (AFP) from judicial sources.
The defense of the star singer 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, had specified to theAFP two sources close to the case during the hearing on June 27.
“This popular singer must be able to practice his profession”
More “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 theAFP the singer’s two lawyers, Mes Sophie Obadia and Bertrand Burman.
Read also: Suspicions of rape of minors: Jean-Luc Lahaye banned from concert by the courts
“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, adding that “this popular singer must be able to practice his profession”.
“My client is relieved by this decision and hopes that the investigation will be completed soon”indicated to theAFP Me Nathalie Bucquet, lawyer for the young woman.
Indicted since November 2021
Jean-Luc Lahaye, now aged 71, was indicted on November 5, 2021, in Paris, in particular 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.
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