The Paris prosecutor’s office requested a dismissal by final indictment, Thursday, January 13, in the case in which the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, has been accused of rape by Sophie Patterson-Spatz since 2017, for facts which would date back to 2009.
“We take note of this indictment of dismissal and await the final decision of the investigating magistrate”, reacted the lawyers of Gerald Darmanin, Mathias Chichportich and Pierre-Olivier Sur. The investigating judge had closed the investigations in September 2021, without ever indicting Gerald Darmanin, placed under the status of assisted witness in December 2020. She must now decide either to issue an order of dismissal or to reopen investigations.
For the plaintiff’s lawyer, Yann Le Bras, entered the case in September 2021 when it was closed, “Beyond the bitter disappointment of [sa] client on the path of her complaint, the indictment of dismissal was awaited (…). This procedure is a typical illustration of the long and complicated road to be taken for this type of complaint to lead to prosecution before a trial court and, ultimately, to a conviction. It also reveals the difficulty for justice to characterize a situation of constraint when it is contested. ” His client accuses Gérald Darmanin of rape, sexual harassment and breach of trust.
Procedural twists and turns
Sophie Spatz, née Olga Patterson, accuses the former Northern MP of promising her a « service » in exchange for sexual favors in 2009. Gérald Darmanin was then 26 years old, he was in charge of the legal affairs department of the UMP (now LR). Sophie Spatz, she has 37 and seeks to clean her criminal record of a ten-month suspended prison sentence for “blackmail, malicious calls, and threat of crime”, pronounced against her in 2004 then confirmed on appeal, after a complaint from her former companion. Her file under her arm, she went to the headquarters of the UMP, of which she was a supporter, where she was received by Gerald Darmanin. The meeting will be followed, later, by a dinner at the restaurant Chez Françoise – the restaurant of the political All-Paris close to the National Assembly – then by a detour to a private club and a night in the hotel.
To investigators, Mr. Darmanin confirmed in 2018 to have a sexual relationship with the complainant but without any consideration. Mme Patterson-Spatz, she explains that he would have promised to intervene in her case by sending a letter to the Department of Justice, and that she had felt compelled to “Pass to the pan”.
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