Page 29 - bon-dia-aruba-20211025

A29
world news Dialuna 25 OctOber 2021

French sexual abuse victims denounce police mistreatment

(AP) — One rape victim Addressing the national issue
was asked by Paris police last week, Interior Minister
what she wore that day, Gerald Darmanin said “there
and why she didn’t strug- are questions that cannot be
gle more. Another woman asked to women when they
was forced to fondle her- come to file a complaint.”
self to demonstrate a sex- “It’s not up to the police of-
ual assault to a skeptical ficer to say whether there
police officer. was domestic violence or not,
that’s up to the judge to do
They are among thousands it,” he added.
of French women who have
denounced in a new on- He also announced an inter-
line campaign the shocking nal investigation at the Mont-
response of police officers pellier police station.
victim-blaming them or mis-
handling their complaints as The prefect of the region of
they reported sexual abuse. Montpellier had previously
condemned in a statement
The hashtag #DoublePeine what he called “defamatory
(#DoubleSentencing) was comments” against officers.
launched last month by Anna He denounced “false infor-
Toumazoff after she learned mation” and “lies” aiming at
that a 19-year-old woman discrediting police action.
who filed a rape complaint
in the southern city of Mont- Toumazoff denied launching said. The officer asked if she understand why you did not
pellier was asked by police in an anti-police campaign, say- A 37-year-old Parisian wom- was certain that the abuser struggle more.”
graphic terms whether she ing the hashtag aims at urg- an told the AP about her ex- wanted to touch her breast.
experienced pleasure during ing the government to take perience at a police station The complaint was closed
the assault. action. after she was assaulted this “I had to make the gesture without follow-up due to
year by a man living near her so that he sees that it was not lack of evidence. The young
The hashtag quickly went vi- “By letting incompetent and home, who had previously another part of the body,” she woman described the police
ral, with women describing dangerous officers working harassed her in the street. said. “Making me repeat and response as very difficult to
similar experiences in Mont- in police stations, (authori- ... mime the gesture in front live through, with a “huge
pellier and other police sta- ties) expose the whole pro- Once, he blocked her path of a wall, that’s humiliating. I impact” on her private life
tions across France. French fession to shame,” she told and pressed her against a found it very degrading. I felt and almost leading her to giv-
women’s rights group Nous- The Associated Press. She wall, touching her belly and I was like a puppet.” ing up her studies.
Toutes counted at least 30,000 said the victim mentioned her breast and threatening to
accounts of mistreatment in in her initial tweet does not kill her, she recalled. The case is still ongoing. The Associated Press typical-
tweets and other messages wish to speak publicly while Police suggested a change ly does not name people who
sent on social media and on a her rape complaint is under The woman described arriv- of apartment to move away say they are victims of sexual
specific website. investigation. ing scared and crying at the from her abuser, she said. assault.
police station, where officers
Despite recent training pro- The Montpellier regional welcomed her “very kindly.” Another Parisian woman, Speaking to lawmakers at the
grams for French police and branch of powerful police aged 25, said she was left National Assembly, the inte-
growing awareness around union Alliance argued that But then, she said, the officer “traumatized” by the police rior minister acknowledged
violence against women, ac- officers are just doing their in charge of filing the com- treatment after she had been things “can still be improved”
tivists say authorities must do jobs. “While police officers plaint did not write down her raped by her ex-boyfriend in on the matter across France.
more to face up to the gravity understand the victims’ dis- description of the assault, so 2016.
of sex crimes, and to eradi- tress, the establishment of she refused to sign the docu- The government has set the
cate discrimination against the truth requires us to ask ment. When she filed her initial goal to have at least one spe-
victims. ‘embarrassing’ questions,” it complaint, the police offi- cially trained officer in each
said. “I had to tell it all again,” she cer, who had received special police station for dealing with
training, “explained to me domestic violence and sexual
why he was asking all these abuse. An annual survey led
questions, he was in a spirit by national statistics institute
of kindness,” she remembers. INSEE shows that currently
“I felt rather safe and that he only 10% of victims in these
believed me.” cases file a formal complaint.

Months later she was sum- The #doublepeine move-
moned to another police ment comes after the shock-
station, located in the same ing killing earlier this year of
street where her attacker was a woman who was shot and
living. Feeling very anxious at set on fire in the street by her
the idea of potentially seeing estranged husband. One of
him, she said she was talked the officers who had taken
to as if she was “stupid” and her domestic abuse com-
“a liar.” plaint a few months earlier
had recently been convicted
Police asked what she was for domestic violence him-
wearing that day, why it was self.
different from when she was
having consensual sex with Darmanin promised that of-
him, how she could argue she ficers definitively convicted
was surprised if he was wear- for such acts won’t be al-
ing a condom, she recalled. lowed to be in contact with
An officer told her, “I don’t the public anymore.