Stéphane Plaza is being tried this Wednesday for “habitual violence” following complaints from two former partners. The real estate agent’s defense has filed two priority questions of constitutionality that could impact the hearing.
The essentials
- Stéphane Plaza appears before the Paris Criminal Court this Wednesday, August 28, following complaints filed by two of his former partners. He is being tried for “habitual violence by a partner resulting in incapacity for work for more than 8 days.” The trial opened at 1:30 p.m.
- The real estate agent, placed under judicial supervision, is not present at his trial. According to Me Carlo Alberto Brusa, this absence is justified by the “health condition” of the presenter.
- Two days before the hearing, the host’s defense decided to file two priority questions of constitutionality. If accepted by the court, they could undermine the prosecution and lead to the hearing being postponed to a later date.
- Stéphane Plaza has always denied the accusations since they were published in the newspaper Médiapart last September. He maintains his version that the two women ganged up on him to harm his reputation.
Live
16:13 – What can the court decide about the QPC filed by the defense?
After an hour of pleadings, the court adjourned to deliberate on the QPC filed by Stéphane Plaza’s lawyers. If the court upholds these two priority questions of constitutionality, the sentence faced by the TV host could be reduced by half. For the time being, he faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros, but if the period of ITT granted to the alleged victims falls below eight days, this sentence will be halved. The hearing could also be postponed, which is what Stéphane Plaza’s lawyers are hoping for.
15:39 – Defense’s strong points lack “seriousness” according to prosecutor
Stéphane Plaza’s lawyers have announced that they plan to counter-attack the accusations of the two plaintiffs by filing two priority questions of constitutionality (QPC). Since the beginning of the hearing, these two questions have been at the heart of the discussions. After the president expressed his dissatisfaction at not having been informed of this filing by the defense, which the defense refuted, it was the prosecutor’s turn to tackle them. According to information from Vincent Vantighem, a senior reporter for BFMTV present in the courtroom to follow the trial. The prosecutor is said to have recalled that “the second question raised by Stéphane Plaza’s defense has already been asked and rejected twice.” Before that, the prosecutor would have judged them to be lacking in “seriousness,” the journalist also indicated.
14:38 – Defense lawyers already in turmoil?
The trial of Stéphane Plaza opened this afternoon and after the announcement of the accused’s absence, the president of the 10th chamber became annoyed by the situation. According to a BFMTV journalist present in the courtroom, the session did not start under the best auspices for Stéphane Plaza’s lawyers. “I was quite circumspect about the exchanges with the defense. The file was consulted on Monday. There was no specific request,” said the president before adding that he regretted not having been informed by the defense of the filing of the priority questions of constitutionality. He continued by explaining that he had learned of this information thanks to the civil party and the article in Le Parisien.
Stéphane Plaza’s lawyers said they sent everything by email and provided evidence of this to the president. But the latter confirmed that he received nothing.
14:11 – The hearing is open
The trial of Stéphane Plaza opened at 1:30 p.m. The host, who is not present for health reasons, is to be tried on charges of “habitual violence by a partner resulting in incapacity for work for more than 8 days”. The hearing should take place in three stages: a reminder of the facts, the examination of the priority questions of constitutionality filed by Stéphane Plaza’s lawyers on Monday, followed by the holding of the debates.
12:03 – What is Stéphane Plaza accused of?
In its article published in September 2023, Médiapart revealed the testimonies of Stéphane Plaza’s three ex-partners who accuse him of “humiliation, threats, verbal violence and, for two of them, physical violence”. In the newspaper, one of them declared: “He suddenly got up and started yelling at me, a few centimeters from my face. […] As a defensive reflex, I put my hands in front of me, at chest height. He then grabbed my hand by the fingers and violently twisted them. I screamed in pain. Three of my fingers were hanging down, they quickly became purple and swollen.” Stéphane Plaza refutes these accusations, deemed false and “fanciful” by his lawyers.
11:00 – The host always present on TV
Stéphane Plaza has become a star of the small screen thanks to his shows about real estate: Maison à vendre, Recherche appartement ou maison, Chasseurs d’appart’… Although he is still on screen, Nicolas de Tavernost, head of M6, had assured that the channel would take its “responsibilities” concerning the host, depending on the court’s decision. His sidelining had been refused following an internal investigation on the grounds that “on a professional level, there is no reproach that could justify it”.
10:30 – Stéphane Plaza’s lawyers want the presenter to be acquitted
Stéphane Plaza’s lawyers, in the event of a non-adjournment, intend to plead for their client’s acquittal. “We are ready,” assured Mr. Plumet, as reported by Europe 1. He maintains that Stéphane Plaza was the victim of a “prejudicial investigation” by a “coalition of women.”
10:20 – Hearing postponed?
Stéphane Plaza’s defense, even before the trial opened, filed two priority questions of constitutionality. The first concerns the rules for summoning Stéphane Plaza and the second focuses on the method of calculating the number of days of total incapacity for work (ITT) granted to the alleged victims. This second concept is essential because it is the basis of the seriousness of the offense and the penalty incurred. If there are more than eight days of ITT, the defendant can incur a sentence of up to ten years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros. If it is less than eight days, everything is divided by two. However, the first victim was issued a certificate of ten days of physical ITT and six days of psychological ITT for acts of habitual violence. For the second victim, the ITT was assessed as “more than eight days”, following acts of essentially psychological violence. Furthermore, according to Stéphane Plaza’s lawyers, the ITT certificates were issued by intern doctors, who are therefore not yet qualified. If one of these two priority questions of constitutionality were to be retained and then transmitted to the Court of Cassation, the hearing could be postponed.
10:10 – Stéphane Plaza absent during the hearing
If his trial opens this Wednesday, Stéphane Plaza will not be present. His lawyers revealed that his state of health would not allow him to go to court. Since the revelation of this affair by Mediapart, the presenter is going through a very difficult time. As a reminder, he completely denies the facts of which he is accused. His lawyers hope for a postponement of the hearing.
09:56 – Stéphane Plaza’s trial opens this Wednesday
Stéphane Plaza’s hearing is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. this Wednesday before the 10th chamber of the Paris Criminal Court. He is being tried for “habitual violence against a partner” following complaints from two ex-partners. A little less than a year ago, Mediapart revealed the testimonies of mistreatment of Stéphane Plaza by three former partners. After being held in police custody in March, the real estate agent was placed under judicial supervision pending his trial.
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Stéphane Plaza was accused by three former partners, two of whom filed complaints, of violence in a Mediapart article published on Thursday, September 21. They say they suffered “verbal and psychological violence (humiliation, denigration, threats)” from the real estate agent and two of them describe “physical assaults”. They also claim to the investigative newspaper that they had a relationship with the host without knowing that he was seeing other people, accusing him of “exerting manipulation, pressure and mistreatment” to “make several serious relationships coexist at the same time”. Among the testimonies revealed by Mediapart against the fifty-year-old host and real estate agent, one of his ex-partners, who allegedly provided written testimony to a bailiff in May 2022, accuses him of having “violently turned back” several of her fingers during a fit of rage. “Three of my fingers were hanging down, they quickly became purple and swollen,” she says. She also claims to have received a “punched blow to the shoulder.” Another of her former partners, who reportedly filed a complaint in September 2022, claims that he inflicted “bites” on her. Threats are also mentioned in this Mediapart article.
Stéphane Plaza’s lawyer assured Mediapart that these testimonies come from “three women he dated and who, ultimately rejected, ganged up on him to harm him by all means”. His lawyer also claims to Mediapart that a complaint for harassment and cyberbullying was filed against one of the accusers in June 2023. Stéphane Plaza has always denied the accusations and remained faithful to his line of defense during police custody last March. He is said to have defended himself by raising the hypothesis of accidental injuries. Denying the facts of violence of which he is accused, he maintains his version according to which the two women ganged up on him to harm his reputation. He is said to have rejected and deceived them both and according to him, they are seeking revenge.
Two days before the hearing, the host’s defense decided to file two priority questions of constitutionality. One of the two priority questions of constitutionality concerns the method of calculating the number of days of total incapacity for work (ITT) granted to the two victims. A fundamental concept that could decide the seriousness of the offense and therefore the sentence incurred by the accused. If the period of ITT is less than 8 days, the sentence would be reduced to a maximum of five years of imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros, half of what the defendant is currently facing. The defense plans to support its argument on the certificate issued to one of the complainants indicating a period of ITT “more than eight days”. According to Carlo Alberto Brusa, one of Stéphane Plaza’s lawyers, this is a concept that “is not legally defined and varies according to case law, so that it is not sufficiently clear and precise to meet the requirements of legality of offences and penalties”. Another important point for the defence is the legitimacy of the doctors who issued these certificates. According to the lawyers, the first victim was given her certificate by interns who did not yet have their medical degree. The second question concerns the rules for summoning the accused.