The former director of Sciences-po Paris, Mathias Vicherat, and his ex-partner, Anissa Bonnefont, director, were both found guilty of domestic violence and sentenced to suspended prison terms on Friday, according to information from Le Figaro, confirmed by Le Parisien.
In detail, the court found him guilty of violence without total incapacity for work (ITT) by a spouse, for having strangled his partner in July 2023, but he was acquitted of prosecution for violence with ITT lasting more than 8 days, which corresponded to a broken wrist while trying to grab the phone she was holding on September 30, 2023.
“It is proven that (these) injuries were caused during a very strong couple argument” during which Anissa Bonnefont “admitted to having been violent,” declared the president in rendering the decision. In this case, the court ruled that the elements were “insufficient to characterize” the offense and “the causal link, the injuries possibly resulting from several distinct behaviors”. He also authorized non-registration in Mathias Vicherat's criminal record.
The defendant was found guilty of violence with ITT for more than 8 days, during the year 2023, for having given her “slaps”, as well as for violence with ITT for less than 8 days for having given her “slaps”. and punches” on December 3.
In both cases, the court mentioned having taken into consideration “the context of a particularly dysfunctional relationship for many months”, adding, for Mathias Vicherat, that he had “regularly suffered violence from (his) partner” . A ban on mutual contact for three years was imposed with provisional execution.
“Neither a little guilty, nor half innocent”
“Anissa Bonnefont was sentenced to more than what was requested, while Mathias Vicherat was given a lighter sentence. We were therefore agreed on the fact that the two parties should not be sent back to back,” greeted Me Patrick Klugman, lawyer for the former director of Sciences-po, to Le Parisien. And added: “It’s a satisfaction since Mathias Vicherat was recognized as a victim.”
The council nevertheless announced its intention to appeal the decision. “Mathias Vicherat is neither a little guilty, nor half innocent. He is totally innocent,” he continues. And to continue: “He was prosecuted for two facts. On the first, a fractured wrist, he was released. It was on the second fact, namely strangulation which did not result in any days of ITT, that he was convicted. This seems unacceptable to us. »
For its part, Anissa Bonnefont's defense denounced an “unacceptable decision”. “Mathias Vicherat is found guilty of domestic violence despite his denials. By a brutal defense reminiscent of the worst patriarchal semantics, he obtained in 2024 in France that we can judge that breaking a woman's wrist does not matter”, castigated Me Guillaume Barbe, one of his lawyers.
The couple was taken into custody on Sunday December 3 at the 7th arrondissement police station following a violent argument which broke out at the Lutetia hotel. The latter was lifted the next day. Mathias Vicherat and Anissa Bonnefont had not filed a complaint, but an investigation had been opened by the prosecution.
At the time, students had occupied Sciences-po to demand the resignation of Mathias Vicherat and he had temporarily withdrawn. He resigned in March, the moment he learned of his summons to trial.
