At the end of the 2000s, Olivier Freyre, his partner and several relatives had settled in Ganties, a small rural town to found “Hope”.
Google Street View
The former Franco-Swiss leader of a Protestant community in the Pyrenees (southwest of France), Olivier Freyre, was sentenced on Friday to five years’ imprisonment, two of whom were suspended, for rapes on two former followers and abuse of weakness, by a criminal court.
The man, free under judicial supervision since 2019, after having carried out a year of pre -trial detention, will not return to prison, because the rest of the prison sentence, namely two years, can be set up. He was also sentenced to seven years of socio-judicial follow-up.
The Advocate General had requested 15 years in criminal imprisonment.
Bare “fairly mild”
One of the lawyers of the civil parties, Jasmine Medjebeur, described the pronounced sentence as “rather lenient”, adding: “He was still found guilty of rapes, the whole hold and horrors on the lives of people ».
For his part, one of the defense lawyers, Alexandre Parra-Bruguière, said he was “disappointed by the conviction for rape, but satisfied with the sentence” pronounced.
“Sectal drift”
In his indictment, the Advocate General Pierre Aurignac had described a “psychological and physical subjection”, a mechanism of “grip”, of “ancestry” of the 44 -year -old accused on members of the community, installed in a Village of the Pyrenees, and a “sectarian drift”.
“He not only took advantage of the pre-existing vulnerability, but he created, maintained, a grip on each” of his victims, “he must be sentenced to rapes” of two members of the community, he said to judges of the criminal court.
Passed by Rothschild bank
At the end of the 2000s, Olivier Freyre, 28 years old, passed by Rothschild bank before embarking on a spiritual quest, his companion and several relatives had settled in Ganties, a small rural commune to found “Hope », A community of Protestant inspiration dissolved in 2016.
-The association “L’Espoir”, which counted 80 to 90 members at its peak, had justified its self-destruction, in a press release taken up at the time in the daily “La Croi” X, by implicating Olivier Freyre “Founder and preacher of this mission” who “unfortunately turned out to be a wolf disguised as a lamb”.
During the trial, which started on January 17, Olivier Freyre, a charismatic leader who was called “the apostle”, denied rapes, claiming that the sexual relations he had with women in the community were freely granted.
Religion? “I am no longer in there”
Then he tried to convince that he had changed. “Today, I work in health sport with my wife who is a nutrition advisor. I never want to set foot in prison again. I want to stay with my children. ” Religion? “I am no longer in it.”
“The system put in place by Mr. Freyre is perverse and does not allow the opposition,” argued Me Medbeur, representing the women who accused him of rape. “M. Freyre has interfered in the depths of the intimacy of the members of the community “,” he is a self -proclaimed prophet. A shepherd who keeps his sheep. “
“My prince”
Another lawyer for the civil party spoke of victims “on the accidental course”, who represented “ideal prey”. “He did not rape them,” said Sarah Nabet-Claverie, a defense lawyer, putting In front “the love letters” that his “alleged victims” wrote to him, calling him “my prince”.
For his part, Me Parra-Bruguière criticized the work of the investigators and underlined “sorrow, remorse, penance” expressed before the court by an accused “touching sincerity”.
The wife of Olivier Freyre and mother of their six children minimized the role of her husband as soon as she was opened within the community, even if she admitted that her sermons were sometimes “too hard, too hard radicals ”. At accusations of rape, she replied “adulterous relationships” granted.
(AFP)
