On social media, some defense lawyers are “freewheeling”

JUSTICE – ” I’m coming out of the Pelicot trial, pffiiiiiiou! (…) The photos of Madame have been released, they are indeed in positions that posed a problem, since for a few days, she has been maintaining that she had never participated in anything… “These comments – those of a defense lawyer at the Mazan rape trial – were not made before the criminal court in Avignon, but on Instagram.

Every day, Nadia El Bouroumi, who represents two of the 51 accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot, comments on the ongoing trial on her account. The lawyer films herself in selfies, generally at the wheel of her car or on her way to the gym, and shares her impressions with her more than 47,000 subscribers.

” It’s heating up at the Assizes! ” we can read on his account on September 18, the day when Gisèle Pelicot claims to understand ” Why rape victims don’t file complaints “, faced with the violence of the defense towards her. That day, Nadia El Bouroumi was part of lawyers whose aggressiveness has increased a notch, following the publication of 27 intimate photos of Gisèle Pelicot.

“I don’t understand what shocks you.”

“When you receive photos like these, you can tell that it’s a woman who likes sexual games,” Nadia El Bouroumi told the complainant during the hearing. On her Instagram account, the lawyer: debrief » then the scene with his followers. « She got angry, I took the microphone and said that it was she who had wanted it to be public and that now it was not a question of complaining. ” she fumes, as shown in the post below.

In a video published on Thursday, September 19, we even see the lawyer dancing to ” Wake me up before you go-go » by Wham! In the caption, she writes: « Sad reality that I prefer to highlight with humor! There are those who say yes and those who say NO! I say NO! You will never silence me because you consider that my opinion or my position does not suit you! “.

The lyrics of the song translate to: “Wake me up before you leave”. A choice that raises questions in the middle of a trial where the complainant was, according to her husband’s own admission, the victim of chemical subjugation. In the comments of the post, the words ” shame ” And ” indecency ” towards the lawyer predominate.

Asked about BMFTV This Friday, September 20, regarding her videos, Nadia El Bouroumi claims not to see what the problem is. “I don’t understand what shocks you. I’ve had an Instagram account for 4-5 years now where I explain my working days beyond what may seem.”she defends herself. Before adding: “You have to want to not take shortcuts and that’s very complicated, hence the use of my networks for me.”

“Too bad, she could have sold her plastic breasts”

On LinkedIn, it is another defense attorney, Isabelle Crépin-Dehaene, who allows herself to use sarcasm about the complainant in a publication. In screenshots of the post in question, which is no longer visible on her account, she publishes an article on the fundraiser to support Gisèle Pelicot launched and then closed by Nabilla Benattia Vergara.

” The support that kills ” she wrote. Before adding, in the comments: ” Too bad, she could have sold her plastic breasts “Since then, the lawyer appears to have deleted the publication in question and claims to have filed a complaint” against many people who feel justified in insulting a lawyer through the media “.

In another publication, at the opening of the Mazan trial, this same lawyer denounced the “ failed demonstration “, of about twenty” pseudo-feminists with banners ” A few days later, she gets annoyed, ” live from the Avignon courthouse, only the civil party has the floor. The defense is totally ignored. It does not exist in the media or very little. »

The defense is “in total freewheeling”

On social media, the tone of these lawyers, the comments made and their dissemination in the middle of the trial shocked many observers of the legal world and the lawyers themselves. The defense in this trial is in total freewheeling mode “, comments a judge.

” I see LinkedIn posts from a colleague of the defense in the #Mazan trial. I hope that (if these posts are indeed hers) her president of the bar will be immediately notified. I remind you that dignity and humanity are part of our oath “, complains the former lawyer of Big Mouths Marie-Anne Soubré-Trinh.

” The impression that defense attorneys are in a competition. […] We could accept the disastrous image for the profession if we were really certain that they act in the interest of their clients. There are doubts,” another lawyer points out.

” Since it’s apparently fashionable to put yourself forward on social networks during assize trials, I’m announcing that I’ll do the same for my next departmental expulsion commission in Châteauroux, and it’ll be sensa-tion-al. At the same time, I’ll be making a Michelin Guide “, says a lawyer specializing in asylum law and immigration law ironically.

Some remind defense lawyers of their profession’s code of ethics. Still on X, Nicolas Hervieu, a lawyer in public law and European human rights law, cites the code of ethics: “The lawyer’s freedom of expression does not authorize him to give a violent, vulgar or cynical image of his profession.”

Others cite the oath that lawyers take when they take office: “I swear, as a lawyer, to exercise my functions with dignity, conscience, independence, probity and humanity.”

So, do lawyers have the right to comment on a case in progress? This is the case, daily, in the media, but social networks seem to be changing the situation. In any case, many professionals are calling on the President of the Bar Association to react.

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