PARS.- Los filmmakers Frenchmen Benot Jacquot and Jacques Doillon, accused by the actress Judith Godrche and other artists of sexual violencewere detained today -July 1- for interrogation by the Minors Protection Brigade, according to sources close to the case informed AFP.
Both men, who deny the accusations, appeared at the Regional Directorate of the Judicial Police (DRPJ) in Paris accompanied by their lawyers, an AFP journalist reported.
“Jacquot will finally be able to express himself in court,” explained his lawyer Julia Minkowski, who criticized that her client was detained after entering the police premises. “A free interrogation should have been chosen,” she added.
Marie Dos, Jacques Doillon’s lawyer, stated that no legal criterion justifies this detention measure, especially considering the age of the events reported by Judith Godrche, which date back 36 years and have been prescribed for more than two decades.
Both lawyers denounced the violation of their clients’ presumption of innocence.
Confrontations between filmmakers and actresses
The arrests could lead to confrontations between the directors and some of the actresses who accuse them, including Godrèche, according to sources close to the case.
In February, the 52-year-old actress publicly accused first Benot Jacquot of rape and then Jacques Doillon of sexual assault, and filed the corresponding complaints in court.
The investigation by the Paris prosecutor’s office focuses on alleged crimes such as rape of a minor by a person in authority, rape, domestic violence and sexual assault of a minor under 15 years of age by a person in authority.
Jacquot and Godrche began their relationship in the spring of 1986, when she was 14, and lived together openly until their separation in 1992, even buying an apartment in Paris.
Godrche described the relationship as domination and perversion.
The actress’s parents agreed to give her legal emancipation to continue this relationship, which was known in the media and in the world of cinema.
Two other actresses have accused Jacquot: Julia Roy of sexual assault, and Isild le Besco at the end of May of rape of a minor under 15 years of age and rape, allegedly between 1998 and 2007.
FUENTE: AFP
