Filmmakers Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon, accused by actresses including Judith Godrèche, of sexual violence, are summoned on Monday to the Minors Protection Brigade for placement in police custody, AFP learned from sources close to the case. The 52-year-old actress accused Benoît Jacquot of rape then Jacques Doillon of sexual assault, triggering the opening of an investigation in Paris.
The two men, who contest these accusations, arrived around 9:30 a.m. at the Regional Directorate of the Judicial Police (DRPJ) in Paris accompanied by their lawyers. Me Julia Minkowski and Marie Dosé denounced this police custody measure on Monday. Benoît Jacquot “will finally be able to express himself before the courts”, reacted Me Julia Minkowski, who denounced “questionable” police custody. “A free hearing should have been decided,” she added.
For Me Marie Dosé, lawyer for Jacques Doillon, “none of the legal criteria can justify this measure” of police custody “36 years” after the facts denounced by Judith Godrèche. His client “should have been heard in the context of a free hearing in view of the age of the facts, their prescription acquired for more than two decades, and the inevitable dismissal without further action which will close this investigation”, a- she added in a press release. The two lawyers denounced the “attacks on the presumption of innocence” of their clients and the media coverage of these measures.
According to sources close to the case, these police custody could allow confrontations between the directors and some of their accusers, including Judith Godrèche. At the beginning of February, the 52-year-old actress sparked a new storm in the French #MeToo by successively accusing Benoît Jacquot of rape then Jacques Doillon of sexual assault, and filing a complaint.
The investigation by the Paris public prosecutor’s office concerns the offenses of rape of a minor under 15 years of age by a person in authority, rape, violence by a partner, and sexual assault of a minor over 15 years of age by a person in authority.
Jacquot and Godrèche, born in March 1972, began their relationship in the spring of 1986. They lived openly together, even buying an apartment in Paris, until their separation in 1992. The actress spoke of a relationship of “control” and “perversion”. Two other actresses filed complaints against Jacquot: Julia Roy for sexual assault and Isild le Besco for rape of a minor over 15 years old and rape, allegedly committed between 1998 and 2007.
