This investigation, which follows a complaint filed by a child protection association, targets the author of comics and two publishing houses.
An investigation for the dissemination of child pornography images was opened this week against the author of comic strips Bastien Vivès and two publishing houses that published some of his works, the Nanterre prosecutor’s office said on Friday, requested by the AFP.
This preliminary investigation, entrusted to the Brigade for the protection of minors, targets the 38-year-old author, figure of the 9th art, as well as the publishing houses Glénat and Les Requins Marteaux which published three of his works in 2011 and 2018, said the Nanterre prosecutor’s office and a source familiar with the matter. Contacted by AFP, Glénat editions could not be reached immediately.
The investigation was opened after the filing of a complaint at the end of December by the Foundation for Children association with the Nanterre prosecutor’s office. This complaint, elements of which had been revealed by francinfotargets three comics which “deliver representations of minors, in sexually explicit situations, undoubtedly presenting a pornographic character”.
Several complaints filed
These three comics are called Little Paul (Glénat, 2018), The Mental Dump (Hammerhead Sharks, 2018) and The melons of anger (The Hammerhead Sharks, 2011).
In The melons of anger, “Bastien Vivès stages Magalie, a young underage girl who suffers repeated sexual assault and rape”, describes The Foundation for Children, quoted by franceinfo. “Incestuous relations are also staged between Magalie and her brother, Petit Paul”, whose “lack of consent” is “presented as obvious”, continues the association.
Another association, Innocence in danger, also lodged a complaint with the Paris prosecutor’s office at the end of December against Bastien Vivès and the same publishing houses, considering that these three comic strips were part of the dissemination of child pornography images but also of incitement to the commission of sexual assaults on minors and the dissemination of violent messages to a minor.
lively controversy
If the investigation in Nanterre was opened for dissemination of child pornography, the investigators are not required to limit themselves to this single offense during their investigations.
Bastien Vivès has been the subject of a resounding controversy since the announcement of an exhibition around his work, In the eyes of Bastien Vives, planned by the Angoulême festival for its next edition at the end of the month. A petition asking for the cancellation of this exhibition has quickly collected several tens of thousands of signatureswhile old disturbing statements by the artists have been unearthed by Internet users – “Incest, me, it excites me to death”, he had notably declared to the site Miss in 2017.
The Angoulême comic book festival, evoking “threats”, announced the cancellation of the exhibition. For his part, Bastien Vivès made his mea culpa.
