Ruling in France rape case could set precedent

Corinne Leriche has been struggling to get a proper night's sleep for weeks. She has nightmares that jolt her awake and has developed a rash over large parts of her body. 

On Wednesday, a French court will decide if her daughter, known in media reports simply as "Julie," will be recognized as a rape victim instead of a consensual underage participant. The outcome of the closely watched case could set a legal precedent by expanding the definition of child rape in France — and give Julie and her family some justice after over a decade.

"It's unbearable — these horrific events have been overshadowing our lives for more than 10 years. I feel like yelling: 'Can you finally stop lying?'" Leriche told DW.

The family's ordeal dates back to April 2008. That's when Julie, then 13, suffered a dizzy spell at school and passed out. The ambulance service, staffed by firefighters, brought her to a nearby hospital — but these saviors soon became her torturers, the girl later told her mother.

After the incident at school, Julie developed social anxiety disorder. She hid in her room, falling into a deep depression. Her doctors prescribed strong sedatives and antidepressants. Over the next two years, she attempted suicide 16 times.

Julie's severe anxiety attacks required the regular intervention of the ambulance service, and she began to develop a trusting relationship with the firemen, who were in their late teens. She would tell her mother about how the men began to exploit that relationship, repeatedly threatening her and persuading her to meet up, and then, she said, raping her over and over again.

Julie said one fireman, Pierre C., kept her phone number and contacted her often. She told of how he began sending her nude pictures of himself, sharing her contact details with his colleagues. 

Once, one of the firemen told the family that he would take Julie out for a walk, only to bring her to his home, she said, where two colleagues were waiting. Another time, she said, one of the men raped Julie when he was visiting her at a child psychiatric clinic.

"They saw how she was destroying herself and yet they continued," Leriche said.

Men investigated for sexual assault — not rape

It was only about two years later, when doctors finally took Julie off her medication, that she was finally able to confide in her mother. In July 2010, rape charges were pressed against 20 firefighters, all about 20 years old at the time. 

But, since then, only three of the men have been put under investigation. The judge took the other men at their word that they didn't know Julie was under the age of 15 at the time of the encounters and decided not to file charges.

The accused have maintained that Julie agreed to the relationship and wanted to have sex with them. DW contacted their lawyer for an interview, but the request was denied. 

Over the next decade, the case slowly made its way through the courts. In July 2019, the case was transferred from a jury trial to a criminal court, with the judge saying it had not been possible to prove that Julie had not agreed to the sexual relationship.

The transfer automatically lessened the charges from rape to sexual assault — and reduced the maximum possible sentence from 20 years to seven years in prison.

Julie's family has appealed the transfer. The final verdict on the appeal will be handed down by the Cour de Cassation, France's supreme court for criminal cases, on Wednesday.

France doesn't have age of consent

Such a scenario would be completely unthinkable in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom or Germany. These countries have a formal age of consent — but France does not.

"It is against the law for adults to have sexual intercourse with children under the age of 15," Pascal Cussigh, a lawyer and president of the children's rights association CDP-Enfance, told DW. However, those prosecuted for this offense are usually given lighter penalties, as it is not automatically considered rape.

"To convict someone of rape, it must be proven that force was used, the person was threatened or duped into sex — otherwise it's considered sexual assault," said Cussigh. Such proof is all the more difficult in Julie's case, because she only told her mother about the alleged incidents much later. 

In addition, Cussigh claimed French judges tend to naturally distrust the testimony of children. "This has been the case since the Outreau affair from 1997 to 2000, in which some adults were accused of rape and sexual assault against children and eventually acquitted because it turned out that the children not completely told the truth," he said.

However, even though some of the children's testimony was false, Cussigh said they had nevertheless all been recognized as victims of sexual offenses — a fact that supports the view that children should be believed when it comes to such cases. And yet, he said only around 1% of child rape cases in France result in convictions.

'People can no longer look away after #MeToo'

The government has promised things will change, and has introduced draft laws that would set a clear age of consent of 15. That means that an adult having sex with anyone under that age would face statutory rape charges.

"We want to better protect children through rules that are compatible within our legal system," a spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry told DW.

Several parliamentary proposals for an age of consent are under consideration, with the Marcon government including plans for a five-year buffer exception that would allow teenagers in relationships to continue having sexual intercourse when one of them turns 18. That would mean that, for example, that an 18-year-old could have a relationship with a 14-year-old, despite the age of consent being 15, because the age gap between them would only be four years.

Cussigh, however, is worried that such a large age gap might water down the legislation, "de facto lowering the age of consent to 13." But some children's and women's rights activists believe things are at least moving in the right direction.

"The mindset in our country is slowly but surely changing," said Sophie Barre, a member of the feminist group NousToutes, which regularly organizes demonstrations in support of Julie. For Barre and others, this case has become emblematic for what's wrong with France's judicial system.

"People can no longer look away after #MeToo and recent scandals such as the book published by Camille Kouchner accusing her stepfather, a well-known political analyst, of  incestuous rape of her brother," she told DW. Kouchner, the daughter of former foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, revealed the shocking revelations in a memoir in February.

Barre is hoping for more than just a clear age of consent. "We need to better educate our police officers, judges and psychologists so that they recognize rape victims at an earlier stage," she said.

With Wednesday's ruling, Corinne Leriche hopes her daughter will finally see justice.

"But if our application is rejected, our family will leave France," she said. "We can't live in a country where the justice system tramples and humiliates us."

If you are suffering from serious emotional strain or suicidal thoughts, do not hesitate to seek professional help. You can find information on where to find such help, no matter where you live in the world, at this website: https://www.befrienders.org/