The investigation targeting actor Richard Berry, accused of incest by his daughter Coline Berry-Rojtman, was closed on Wednesday August 31, due to prescription, said the Paris prosecutor’s office, confirming information from BFM- TV.
This investigation, opened on January 25, 2021 for sexual assault on a minor under the age of 15 by ascendant against Richard Berry and corruption of a minor under the age of 15 for Jeane Manson, former partner of the actor, “was dismissed today due to the acquisition of the prescription of the public action”said the prosecution.
Coline Berry-Rojtman, born in 1976 from the union between Richard Berry and actress Catherine Hiegel, filed a complaint on January 25, 2021 against her father, denouncing acts of rape and sexual assault on minors under 15 years old by ascendancy and minor corruption in the years 1984-1985.
“Coline Berry denounced these facts knowing full well that they were prescribed, for there to be an investigation”reacted to the Agence France-Presse (AFP) his lawyer, Mr.e Patrick Klugman. “This takes note that the facts are prescribed. So we understand that the facts are characterized, and this is what we expectedhe added. No one will be able to say that Coline Berry is a liar. »
“Contrary to what may have been wrongly indicated, there is no reason to say that the facts are established”for his part declared to AFP Me Hervé Témime, who defends Richard Berry with Me Sophie Obadia. “The prosecution did not say it and moreover did not have to say it”he added.
Coline Berry-Rojtman was heard in February 2021 by investigators from the Brigade for the Protection of Minors (BPM). His father, for his part, was last June.
The Olivier Duhamel affair freed the floor
According to his complaint, which had been cited by The world, it would have happened, around the years 1984-1985, that Richard Berry proposed to his daughter “to play in the orchestra with his sexual organs and those of his partner” of the time, the singer Jeane Manson. The child would have been “forced to put his mouth on sex” of his father, according to the daily.
In a long text published on his Instagram account, the actor had denied ” all [ses] forces and unambiguously these foul accusations”. “I have never had inappropriate or incestuous relations with Coline, nor with any of my children”he had assured.
According to Richard Berry, 72, the accusations of sexually assaulting his daughter began seven years ago, when his new wife was pregnant and Coline, who was four years younger than her, was at the same time expecting a child .
Coline Berry-Rojtman for her part claimed to have decided to take the plunge after the publication of Camille Kouchner’s book The Big Familyat the origin of the Olivier Duhamel affair and the release of speech in France on incest.
Coline Berry-Rojtman sentenced for defamation
Coline Berry-Rojtman was sentenced on April 14 for “defamation” following the charges against his father and Jeane Manson. The ex-girlfriend of Richard Berry had seized the judicial court of Aurillac of a complaint against his ex-daughter-in-law, affirming that his career and his health had been affected by the scandal caused by the article of the Monde published on February 5, 2021. The newspaper and the two authors of the article, also sued for defamation, had been acquitted. Coline Berry-Rojtman appealed this decision. “We are approaching the trial in Riom with serenity and impatience”assured Wednesday Me Klugman.