“An exemplary sanction had to be imposed, and I think it is. Maître Delphine Gilbert, the lawyer for a gendarme who was suing four of her colleagues for sexual harassment, did not hide her satisfaction on Thursday in Strasbourg. The court had just pronounced suspended prison sentences for acts committed between 2016 and 2021, when all of them worked within the Observation and Surveillance Group (GOS) of the Alsatian city.
“And for my client, who has had very little support from her hierarchy for all these months, it’s a relief,” she added. “She was in great pain, she had thought of committing suicide with her service weapon. For her, it’s a long way, she is not out of the woods, she still presents to this day a state of post-traumatic stress. »
Hervé G., Stéphane H., Geoffrey K. and Germain Y., three hierarchical superiors and a colleague of the military, were prosecuted for having imposed on him, “repeatedly, remarks or behavior with a sexual connotation” of a “degrading” nature. or humiliating”, in particular by broadcasting pornographic photomontages on a WhatsApp group where the face of the victim was added. They also addressed him “on a recurring basis” very crude sexual overtones.
They were given suspended sentences of eighteen, twelve, six and three months in prison, the first three also being sentenced to terms of ineligibility of the same duration. Asked, Eric Amiet, the lawyer for the four gendarmes, could not be reached.
Asked about possible disciplinary sanctions and the assumption of the cost of lawyers for the gendarmes under functional protection, the gendarmerie of the eastern defense and security zone did not respond.