“All these hysterics”: an ethics investigation opened following the comments of the lawyer of one of the accused in the Mazan rape trial

An ethics investigation is opened following comments made by the lawyer of one of the accused towards demonstrators.

The Lyon bar indicated that it had opened an ethics investigation following insulting remarks addressed to feminists by the lawyer of one of the accused following the Mazan rape trial.

“All lawyers are subject to ethical rules of which the President is the guarantor.“, declared the professional order of lawyers, explaining that it had received reports from an individual and a lawyer concerning the comments made the day before by Me Christophe Bruschi. 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, her client was sentenced to three years in prison, two of which were suspended, the sentence. the lightest pronounced by the criminal court of Vaucluse.

My client has a message for you, to all these hysterics, these ill-mouthed people (…)

“My client has a message for you, to all these hysterics, these bad mouthed people, the message is “shit”! That's it, but with a smile“, he said as he left the court where feminist activists had gathered. “Come on, knitters!“, he added to boos, according to images captured by numerous journalists.

Mr. Bruschi then clarified that he had 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 everything “provocation“but castigating activists who”make the buzz” et “are in hatred.“

This did not prevent criticism from flourishing on social networks, accusing the lawyer of mysogyny. Onunacceptable“and asked”appropriate disciplinary measures“.

After four months of a trial that became a symbol of violence against women, the courts declared all the accused guilty and handed down sentences of three to twenty years in prison. Dominique Pélicot, 72, received the heaviest sentence for drugging his wife for a decade and delivering her to men recruited on the Internet.

mazan rape trial lawyer Gisèle Pelicot Dominique Pelicot