French actress Judith Godrèche announced on Tuesday, November 19, that she had received a preliminary notice of indictment for defamation. An automatic procedure, following a complaint filed by filmmaker Jacques Doillon, whom she accuses of rape. “I have not counted the number of complaints for rape and sexual assault filed against Jacques Doillon. I know mine is prescribed. But his defamation complaint is not“, she wrote on Instagram.
The 52-year-old actress recalled that in the context of a defamation complaint, barring a procedural error, the indictment is systematic. The debates must take place during the hearing on the merits before the criminal court.
At the beginning of February 2024, Judith Godrèche publicly accused director Benoît Jacquot of rape, then Jacques Doillon of sexual assault. Provoking a new wave of indignation as part of the #MeToo movement in French cinema.
Accusations of pedophilia against the filmmaker
Jacques Doillon is accused, by the actress, of rape, explaining that he would have “put fingers in panties” during tests for a film released in 1989. When she was only 15 ans and was with Benoît Jacquot. Jacques Doillon filed a defamation complaint not for these accusations in general, but for a post published on Instagram on February 21.
“Daring to publicly assert, as (Ms. Godrèche) did again on February 21, that he would have slept with children who were filming in his films is despicable and beyond comprehension,” reacted Jacques’ lawyer Doillon, Me Marie Dosé, in a press release.
The investigation was opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office after Judith Godrèche’s complaint. Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon were interviewed at the beginning of July by the Minors Protection Brigade. Benoît Jacquot was indicted for marital rape and rape of a minor by a person in authority.
The custody of Jacques Doillon, for his part, has been lifted “for medical reasons”, the Paris prosecutor’s office specified that it was considering “the modalities of the follow-up to be given”. Me Marie Dosé, lawyer for Jacques Doillon, denounced an attack on the presumption of innocence of his client. In particular because of the “prescription acquired for more than two decades, and the inevitable dismissal which will close this investigation”.
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