a septuagenarian sues for defamation his sons accusing him of incest on Facebook
The judgment was reserved for January 18.
The Lyon brothers court examined on Tuesday the case of two fifty-year-olds, prosecuted for “defamation” by their father whom they denounced last January on Facebook for alleged incestuous sexual assault during childhood. The judgment was reserved for January 18.
“I completely refute these facts because they were not possible”, declared at the bar the injuries, 77, a former notable of the region of ChambĂ©ry, detailing the configuration of the rooms of the family home at the time.
“I can not stand when all this is public and when the name of my parents is dirty,” he added, calling for the conviction of his two sons, who are now 50 and 52 years old.
#MeTooIncest
On January 22, 2021, the youngest son had on his Facebook account a text published with the hashtag #mettooincest, claiming that he had been the victim of incestuous acts by his father in the 80s. He explained that he had been able to free oneself thanks to Camille Kouchner’s book, “La familia grande”, dealing in his family with alleged sexual assault by a close relative.
The older brother had then posted a comment, accompanied by the same hashtag, writing: “this is my brother”, followed by a heart, then: “this is my father” with the emoticon of the devil’s head.
“Should the media justice, the Internet justice, decide its fate?”, Asked at the hearing the lawyer of the injuries, Thomas Fourrey, reproaching the children to have used the social networks “for settle accounts in the face of the world “.
“For forty years he has carried this burden (…) He needed to lift a taboo”, retorted the defense of the youngest son.
Sexual assault complaint
The latter, after the initiation of the defamation procedure, had filed a complaint for sexual assault, but the case had been dismissed due to the limitation period.
In his hearing, he had detailed the alleged touching he had suffered in the parental bed, and the long therapies he had followed to get out of his discomfort. His older brother had for his part attested to the influence of the father in a conflicting family context.
The public prosecutor, Alain Grellet, suggested to the court to be lenient with regard to children “in suffering”. “Good faith must be applied with more tolerance for individuals, compared to press professionals,” said the magistrate, paving the way for an acquittal.