The association The Bleu Angea had appealed, in May, a decision of the Criminal Court of Paris invalidating the quote to appear against Gabriel Matzneff, for a procedure error.
Le Monde with AFP
The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed, Wednesday, 6 October, the cancellation of the trial against the writer Gabriel Matzneff for “apology” of pedocinality, for reasons of procedure. The association The Blue Angel, on the initiative of the complaint, had appealed a decision in May of the Criminal Court of Paris invalidating the quote to appear against Matzneff, thus canceling the holding of his trial, fixed at the September 28, 2021.
In January 2020, the association had, in fact, cited the writer by reproaching himself of having made the apology of pedocinal acts “and precisely the crime of aggravated rape” by evoking his relationship with the writer Vanessa Springora in three items in the Obs, the Parisian and the Express.
The latter had just published his book, the consent, in which she questioned Matzneff, 83 years old, for his sexual relations with minors. The main object of this publication was their own relationship in the 1980s, while it was not yet 14 years old.
Decision “Not surprisingly” for the lawyer of the writer
The Criminal Court of Paris had then felt that the quote had to be declared zero, because the association did not mention any address in Paris. He did not examine the other arguments raised by Gabriel Matzneff’s lawyer. The decision on appeal is “unsurprisingly. We make the right, not literature or morality, especially since the prosecutions were already artificial”, welcomed M e Emmanuel Pierrat, A lawyer of the writer.
The quote procedure allows a victim to directly convene the alleged perpetrator before the court, without a prior investigation. It is to the victim to collect the evidence of guilty of the alleged perpetrator.
Following the publication of the book of M me Springora, Mr Matzneff has been the subject of a preliminary inquiry open by the parquet of Paris for “rape minor committed “under 15 years old. Except for rebound, the investigation is, due to prescription, towards a classification without a suite.