Patrick Bruel affair: the singer targeted by three new complaints for sexual violence

Three new complaints have been filed against singer and actor Patrick Bruel, already indicted for rape and sexual assault, the plaintiffs’ lawyers told AFP on Thursday, confirming information from Mediapart.

Two complaints for rape and one for sexual assault on a minor were filed on June 25 and July 1 with the dean of investigating judges of Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine), detailed Me Corinne Herrmann and Me Benjamin Chouai.

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The 67-year-old artist has already been indicted since June in four cases: a rape in Neuilly-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine) in 2008, an attempted rape in 2010 in Brussels, a case of sexual assault and sexual harassment in Perpignan in 2019 and a sexual harassment case in Ajaccio in 2019. He is placed under the status of assisted witness in four other cases.

“An affair constantly polluted by media noise”

A ninth case, that of a rape in Grenoble in 2000, was dismissed by the investigating judges seized of the case who found the statute of limitations. But the victim’s lawyer, Me Herrmann, appealed the judges’ order to challenge the statute of limitations in this case, she told AFP on Thursday, also confirming information from Mediapart. According to this same source, among the three new complaints against the singer, one concerns facts which are not prescribed.

Stéphanie (not her real name) denounces a rape which allegedly took place in 2014, on the sidelines of an international poker event. The second complainant, Jeanne (not her real name), accuses Patrick Bruel of a rape and then an attempted rape which allegedly took place in the 2000s. They are both represented by Me Herrmann and Me Sonia Kanoun. The third plaintiff, represented by Me Benjamin Chouai, denounces a sexual assault when she was 15 years old, facts which allegedly took place in September 1992 in New York, on the sidelines of the US Open, where she was a volunteer.

Requested by AFP, the advice of Patrick Bruel, My Fanny Colin, Céline Lasek and Christophe Ingrain, indicated that the singer would respond to “these false accusations in the only relevant and appropriate framework: justice if it is informed of these facts”. “Only the judicial authority is today able to establish the facts in a case constantly polluted by media noise”they added.