If the prestigious brigade of firefighters of Paris (BSPP) has several times been splashed with accusations of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment in recent years, six of his men were cleared for the rape of a Norwegian student in 2019, according to a judicial source confirming information from the Parisian.
The then 20-year-old student had filed a complaint, claiming to have been raped by several firefighters at the Plaisance barracks, in the 14th arrondissement of the capital, on the night of May 3 to 4, 2019. The young Norwegian had told investigators that he had had a consensual relationship in the barracks with a firefighter he met in a bar, then that other firefighters had forced him to have sex. She had been picked up in the early morning in a state of shock by a friend.
The firefighters had not been indicted
Le Paris public prosecutor’s office had opened a preliminary investigation for “rape in a meeting”. But during their custody, the six firefighters implicated by the young woman had refuted the facts, describing consensual sexual acts. A magistrate from the military affairs section of the Paris public prosecutor’s office had requested the indictment of four of them for ” gang rape and for “non-impediment of crime” for the other two.
The investigating judge in charge of the judicial information had nevertheless considered that there was “insufficient evidence” justifying at this stage the prosecution of the six firefighters, then aged 23 to 35 years. Placed under the more favorable status of assisted witness, they were not indicted during the procedure, according to the judicial source.
The investigating judge therefore issued a dismissal order on April 28. According to the magistrate quoted by the Parisian, “it does not appear that the civil party was subjected to real violence, physical constraint or threats” and showed “a refusal, any opposition at the arrival of new partners”. “Justice has made a coherent decision, it’s a real relief,” reacted Me Géraldine Vallat, lawyer for a firefighter. But these accusations “shattered dreams of a professional career”, she added, recalling that the six firefighters had been suspended as soon as the rape accusations were revealed.