The professional order of lawyers says it has received reports after the controversial remarks made Thursday by a lawyer for one of the accused in the trial of the rapes suffered by Gisèle Pelicot.
Published on 20/12/2024 18:01
Updated on 20/12/2024 18:50
Reading time: 2min
His remarks were booed by demonstrators, leaving the Avignon court, shortly after the announcement on Thursday of the verdict in the Mazan rape trial. The Lyon bar announced on Friday December 20 to AFP that it had opened an investigation “deontological” on insulting remarks addressed to feminists by the lawyer of one of the accused, Christophe Bruschi. “Every lawyer is subject to ethical rules of which the President is guarantor”declared the professional order of lawyers, explaining that it had received reports from an individual and another lawyer.
Registered with the Lyon bar, he defended one of the 51 accused in the trial of the rapes inflicted over ten years on Gisèle Pelicot, drugged with anxiolytics by her husband. On Thursday, his client was sentenced to three years in prison, two of which were suspended, the lightest sentence handed down by the Vaucluse criminal court. “My client has a message for you, to all these hysterical people, these bad mouthed people. The message is shit! There you go, but with a smile”he said as he left the court where feminist activists had gathered. “Come on, knitters!”he added to boos.
Christophe Bruschi then clarified that he used this term in reference to women who, during the French Revolution “were sitting in front of the guillotine, knitting and waiting for only one thing, for the guillotine to fall.” “Indeed I called them ‘knitters’, but not all women, far from it”he said, denying any “provocation” but castigating activists who “are creating a buzz” et “are in hatred”.
