Bastien Vivès and his publishing houses will be tried on May 27 and 28 by the Nanterre court for having broadcast images of a child pornographic nature. The author’s lawyer denounces a “hypocrisy”.
The news was freshly welcomed by Bastien Vivès and his lawyer. This Thursday, February 13, the prosecution announced that the author of comics will be tried on May 27 and 28 by the Nanterre court. He is accused of fixing and dissemination of pornographic image of minors in two of his albums, The mental discharge (2018) and Small Paul (2018).
A third work, The melons of anger (2011) had also been implicated. It will not be the subject of the debates in court at the end of May unlike the other two, relays The world. Note that the editions Les sharks hammer and Glénat must also appear for the dissemination of image of a minor presenting a pornographic character, because they have published the works in this case, said the public prosecutor. At the origin of this decision, a preliminary investigation opened in January 2023. It followed the filing of complaints of several childhood protection associations.
“The hypocrisy of the Nanterre prosecutor’s office”
But for the lawyer of Bastien Vivès, Me Richard Malka, “it will be the trial of the hypocrisy of the Nanterre prosecution,” he said to AFP, whose franceinfo echoes. And for good reason, comics Small Paulwhich features a young boy with disproportionate penis who has sex with adults, had previously been the subject of reports, in 2018 then in 2020. Already seized at the time, the Nanterre prosecution had then classified these Undeidory reports.
“We will have to explain how the Nanterre prosecutor’s office deemed non -tort and constituting any offense in 2019 becomes an offense in 2024,” notes the defense lawyer. And Me Richard Malka to question: “Is the appreciation of the law done according to the weather of the moment and the associative pressures?” On the side of publishing houses, same misunderstanding. “We can only regret this initiative […] From the Nanterre prosecution when, moreover and as a point of appeasement and in agreement with the author, we have stopped marketing this book, “said Glénat in a statement published this Thursday. In another press release sent to the AFP, Bastien Vivès deplores that he is only “a comic book author”. -he.