The police officer who is suspected of having raped and kidnapped a sex worker in Geneva in 2018 is under arrest by the Geneva attorney general, RTS revealed on Wednesday. Two other police officers, now retired, are also being investigated by the courts. A confrontation hearing will take place next month
This is a new twist in the case of the alleged rape of a prostitute by a police officer, in Geneva in 2018. The RTS Investigation Department has learned that three police officers are now suspected by the courts of having committed criminal offense in this case. They will have to explain themselves next month to the attorney general, Olivier Jornot.
>> Reread: The attack on a prostitute by a Geneva police officer is resolved on the sly
Long investigations
This new episode follows several months of preliminary investigation by the police (IGS). On September 4, 2023, she was tasked by the Public Prosecutor’s Office with investigating “both the sexual assault mentioned by the person concerned and the way in which the facts were apprehended by the police at the time”.
A decision directly linked to the RTS revelations. In August 2023, the public service media disclosed the existence of a morality affair involving several Geneva police officers. A prostitute, under the assumed name of Roxane, says she was raped and kidnapped in early April 2018 in Champel (GE), in the car of a violent client. However, the latter is none other than a police officer on leave.
>> Reread: “They tried to buy my silence”, accuses the prostitute attacked by a Geneva police officer
Graves accusations
No complaint was filed that evening, despite the intervention of the emergency services. Roxane claims to have been bribed to keep quiet during a nighttime confrontation with her alleged attacker, in the presence of a commissioner and a police officer. The police handbook, supposed to faithfully relate the events, is written incompletely. There is no mention of the involvement of a police officer, nor of the nighttime confrontation.
>> Reread: Geneva justice opens criminal proceedings in the Roxane affair
These elements lead the Geneva public prosecutor to open criminal proceedings. A few days later, Roxane decided to file a complaint through her Geneva lawyers, Me Olivier Peter and Me Milena Peeva.
>> Reread: The prostitute who accused a police officer of rape filed a complaint in Geneva
Appearance warrants
For months, the IGS sought to shed light on these facts. In particular, she is carrying out multiple hearings, according to information from RTS. Several lawyers are retained.
Result of these investigations: an investigation was opened and several appearance warrants were sent last summer with a view to a confrontation hearing, scheduled for early November. This is planned for three days.
Three police officers
Three police officers will be heard as defendants. There is the off-duty agent accused of aggravated rape and false imprisonment by Roxane. But also the commissioner, a senior officer who was on duty that night. And the police officer, called on the evening of the incident given the supposed involvement of a colleague. The last two are now retired. All are now suspected of having committed a criminal offense six years ago.
Which? Contacted by RTS, the Geneva Public Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment. The same goes for the Geneva police. The parties’ lawyers still do not have access to the file. Reason why they do not wish to express themselves further.
“My client is innocent”
Only the police officer’s lawyer agreed to speak to RTS. He refutes any failure by his client. “He is completely innocent, he did nothing wrong. He worked in a proportional and professional manner,” assures Me Robert Assaël.
“My client received a telephone from the commissioner who told him about a dispute between a police officer and a sex worker. He went to the Old Police Hotel and there, he was in the presence of this lady and the police officer who had called him. No evidence of coercion or rape emerged. She did not want to file a criminal complaint. Therefore, for him, there was no indication of a criminal offense. conforms.”
Raphaël Leroy, RTS investigation center
Information processed at 7:30 p.m. of October 9, 2024
