“The fundamental struggle is to point it out, to intimidate it. “Me Basile Ader, lawyer of the one who calls herself” Christelle “in the proceedings, strongly denounces the revelation of the name of her client by Tariq Ramadan, whom she accuses of rape. “He gave it 84 times in his book, sometimes 3 times on the same page. He does so emphatically when interviewed by BFMTV, ”he adds.
In November 2020, Tariq Ramadan, indicted for rapes committed on five women, which he disputes, was fined 3,000 euros, including 2,000 suspended, for having given the real name of the one who presents himself in the media like “Christelle” and accuses her of having raped her in a hotel room in Lyon in 2009. The Advocate General on Thursday asked the Paris Court of Appeal to confirm the judgment pronounced at first instance .
No authorization from the complainant
The Islamologist was accused of having violated the law of July 29, 1881 on freedom of the press, which prohibits “disseminating information concerning the identity of a victim of assault or sexual assault” without his written consent. “I am asking the court to confirm the judgment at first instance. They did not have permission [de diffuser son nom]. They never had it ”, indicated the general counsel in his indictment.
“First, I knew his identity and if I had wanted to be malicious I would have said it right away”, argued Tariq Ramadan before the court of appeal, indicating that his position had always been “clear and consistent” . “If you read the book, I am extremely strict. Out of five situations [concernant
les cinq femmes qui l’accusent] I aligned myself with what appeared in the public square, ”he said.
But according to Me Ader, his client wished with the “greatest rigor that her anonymity be respected” and there is no justification for disclosing her name “with insistence”. “We seek in vain how the fact of saying the name of our client, which is not common, rather than Christelle who is the name under which she is known, changes the defense arguments” of the theologian, pleads- he.