The Paris Court of Cassation renders its decision this Wednesday on the admissibility of the appeal filed by Sophie Patterson-Spatz, former UMP supporter, accusing Gérald Darmanin of rape since 2017. The Minister of the Interior had benefited from a dismissal in 2022, confirmed in 2023.
Definitively exonerated? This Wednesday, February 14, 2024, the Paris Court of Cassation must render its decision on the appeal filed by Sophie Patterson-Spatz after a dismissal in July 2022, confirmed by the Paris Court of Appeal in January 2023 in favor of the Minister of the Interior. The latter, now aged 52, has accused him of rape since 2017, facts which he disputes. If the Court of Cassation considers that the appeal is not admissible, the case will be closed and Gérald Darmanin should be out of trouble.
Is a new hearing possible?
The highest court examined the admissibility of the complainant’s cassation appeal on Wednesday January 17 during a non-public hearing. The rapporteur and the advocate general concluded that it should not be admitted. If the appeal is rejected, the plaintiff’s lawyer is already planning to “seize the European Court of Human Rights” by initiating a liability action, a procedure allowing the State to be condemned for miscarriage of justice. The Court may also order a new hearing in the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal. Which would make it possible to examine the dismissal in favor of Gérald Darmanin dating from 2022.
Facts dating back to 2009
As a reminder, a judicial investigation was opened in 2020 in this case into acts of rape which date back to 2009. According to the complainant, the facts took place when she was a supporter of the UMP (now LR). She had requested the support of Gérald Darmanin, then project manager in the legal affairs department of the UMP, for the review of a 2005 conviction for blackmail and malicious calls against her ex-companion.
The current top cop in France allegedly promised to help her via a letter to the Chancellery, insisting that she accompany him to a hotel. If the latter admits to having had a sexual relationship with Sophie Patterson-Spatz, he indicates having “given in to the charms” of an “enterprising” woman. The latter will file a complaint several years later, in 2017.