Is this the end of the (dirty) affair that pushed him to interrupt his career? In any case, the actor and comedian Ary Abittan obtained, this Tuesday, April 2, 2024, a dismissal of the investigations launched after the complaint of a woman accusing him of having raped her in October 2021, indicated Wednesday the Paris prosecutor’s office, confirming information from the Figaro.
This decision was eagerly awaited, because the 50-year-old actor had already obtained, in July 2023, the abandonment of his indictment pronounced in November 2021.
One lawyer delighted, the other combative
During the procedure, “there were numerous hearings, expert opinions, confrontations. Nothing was left aside,” reacted to AFP Maître Caroline Toby, lawyer for the actor who notably played in What have we done to the good Lord?.
“I am delighted for Ary Abittan, and I hope that he can finally devote himself to his career, and that cinema will extend its hand to him again,” she added. For her part, Maître Charlotte Plantin, who represents the plaintiff, announced that she would appeal the dismissal of the case.
Indictment and judicial review
The young woman, who had been seeing the actor for two months at the time of the alleged facts, accuses him of having imposed sodomy on her while they spent the evening at his home, on October 30, 2021. Aged 23 at the time of the facts, she filed a complaint the same night. At the end of his police custody, Ary Abittan was indicted for rape and placed under judicial supervision in November 2021.
During the procedure, the young woman described the actor as “obsessed” with the practice of sodomy but clarified that he had, until then, always accepted her refusal. That night, she claims to have first said “no not tonight”, then “screamed in pain” during the act.
“Absence of serious or consistent evidence”
But “in July 2023, the investigating judge placed Ary Abittan under the status of assisted witness, estimating that there was no longer enough corroborating evidence to justify an indictment status”, specified the parquet.
The two investigating judges in charge of the investigations had justified their decision by the absence of “serious or consistent evidence in favor of an act of sexual penetration imposed by violence, coercion, threat or surprise”, according to their order consulted at the time by AFP.
Favorable psychological expertise
The magistrates also cited the testimonies of Ary Abittan’s former girlfriends, who described “a respectful partner” and psychiatric and psychological expertise which had not “identified personality elements in favor of deviant sexuality or aggressive sexual urges.”
Our “Sexual violence” file
The two judges nevertheless recognized the “indisputable” post-traumatic stress of the complainant. “The public prosecutor requested the dismissal of the case by final indictment on February 19 and the investigating judge issued his order on April 2,” according to the prosecution.