Christophe Bruschi, whose client is convicted but walks free, triggered strong reactions during his confrontation with the activists leaving the courthouse, calling them “hysterics” and “knitters”. One of his colleagues from Marseille said he was “ashamed” of such comments.
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Christophe Bruschi left the courthouse with a smile on his face. If all the accused in the Mazan rape trial have been convicted, his client, Joseph Coco, thanks to his pre-trial detention, is one of the six accused who emerge free after the verdict pronounced this Thursday.
>>> Also read: STORY. Mazan trial verdict: four hours of waiting, tension, anger, relive the epilogue of this historic moment
While other colleagues have chosen a low profile on this historic day, Me Bruschi is playing pure and simple provocation. Hilarious, he confronts the feminist activists eye to eye who sharply challenge him: “Cleared !”.
Not dissatisfied with its effect, he added more, distributed a press release to journalists and launched: “My client has a message for you, to all these hysterics, these foul-mouthed people, the message is shit. My client comes out free! You are hysterics and knitters.”
Christophe Bruschi is particularly attacked by a young man who tells him: “You’re a shame, you’re a shame for the world, for France.” The lawyer, without his dress but in a green jacket over a pink shirt, replies: “You want to hit me too?” Violence arises, the police intervene and the lawyer is exfiltrated inside the court. End of incident.
But who is this lawyer who recognizes that his intervention was “maybe a little to put on a show, we’re in the south” ? Christophe Bruschi, contacted early this afternoon by France 3 Paca, is registered with the Lyon bar, specializing in criminal law. He has never pleaded in a case as high profile as that of the Mazan rapes. It is defined as “a local lawyer”. “My client chose me, I had an affinity with him.”
“They remind me of the knitters in front of the guillotine during the French Revolution. They were waiting for heads to roll.”
Master Christophe Bruschiat France 3 Paca
On his provocation of the day, he persists and signs: “At that moment, I leave the court, I don’t see why I should have to keep a low profile when I am extremely satisfied with the court’s decision. These women are hysterical. Provoke them a little, that kind of people, it doesn’t bother me. I accept that people don’t agree with me, but we have to do it in a non-aggressive way. I wasn’t talking about all the women. But there were half a dozen of them. mine.”
Reactions of indignation flourished in the minutes that followed, notably that of Marseille lawyer Eric Lanzarone: “These comments are scandalous. I hope that the President will sanction. He openly attacked feminists. It’s amazing, it’s unacceptable.
“There, he defends a cause, that of anti-feminists, and not a client. He is the incarnation of machismo. It is a medieval position to call them knitters. I am ashamed of these comments. I measure the distance that separates us from equality between men and women”, ajoute Me Eric Lanzarone.
“The lawyers have not had good press since the start of this trial, this is the apotheosis.”
Eric Lanzarone, lawyer at the Marseille barat France 3 Paca
“Justice, when confronted with the truth, walks on a tightrope. It cannot give in to passion or violence, because its role is to appease, not to inflame. Master Bruschi’s colleague concludes: “As Camus reminds us, passion always overflows justice.
Article written with Yasmine Boutoba, journalist at France 3 Provence Alpes
