“You have to pay for all your crimes. “Tuesday, October 5, on the occasion of the submission of the report of the independent commission responsible for working on sexual violence in the Church, one of the victims of Father Preynat, François Devaux, expressed the urgent need for justice for all French victims.
According to the investigation conducted by Inserm and Ciase, 216,000 people have been assaulted or raped by a member of the clergy since 1950. How many of these shattered lives have been able to obtain redress during a criminal trial? Too little, if we are to believe the information gathered by the commission headed by Jean-Marc Sauvé. However, the recent establishment of protocols between certain jurisdictions and dioceses has made it possible to speed up the judicialization of certain cases.
What can be the legal consequences?
During its work, the Ciase made 22 reports to the prosecution for facts of which it was informed in the context of the hundreds of hearings of victims carried out. Among these 22 cases, it is difficult to know in detail the legal consequences given by the prosecutors seized. In Paris, the Attorney General Rémy Heitz gave this Thursday details of the cases handled within its jurisdiction
in an interview with Figaro. Linked by a protocol with the diocese of the capital, the Paris prosecutor’s office thus received 32 reports
since the signing of the device in September 2019.
“Among the reports that have reached us, some concern victims aged 60 or 70, who have denounced sometimes very old actions”, said the magistrate. In total, “thirteen preliminary investigations are in progress and two judicial inquiries have been opened”. Ten cases were dismissed because of the limitation period and five others transferred to other prosecutors, adds Rémy Heitz. For its part, the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF) revealed that it had transmitted to justice, between September 2018 and September 2020, 110 reports for sexual violence.
Why is the judicialization of these cases so complex?
“We have found that in most cases the incubation period – that is, the time during which the victim is not able to speak or verbalize the facts – is very long. Some have been silent for 30 or 40 years ”, explains to 20 minutes magistrate Antoine Garapon, member of the Sauvé commission. However, when it comes to rape of minors, for example, the law sets at 30 years the maximum period during which the victim can go to court, and this from his majority.
As in incest cases, a significant proportion of victims have however chosen to speak out and report the facts to those around them. But few have been believed, heard and defended. A sometimes insurmountable brake, for the victims, who give up bringing the facts to justice.
The sociological survey conducted by Inserm with Ciase shows that recourse to the judicial authorities remains “in the minority” (approximately 12.8% of the testimonies collected).
In his report, Jean-Marc Sauvé also indicates that more than half (56%) of sexual violence committed by members of the clergy took place between 1950 and 1969. Some attackers thus died before the facts were reported to the authorities. judicial, effectively extinguishing any possibility of criminal prosecution.
What can the Sauvé report change?
Can Ciase’s revelations on the extent of these sex crimes lead some victims to speak out? “It’s just a hunch, but I believe it. We saw it clearly during the #Metoo movement, words lead to words, ”says Antoine Garapon. In its report, the commission makes concrete recommendations to “meet the demands of justice” of victims. She pleads for the generalization of protocols between public prosecutors and dioceses. The experiment carried out in Paris could be extended, according to Attorney General Rémy Heitz. “About fifteen parquet floors in France were inspired by it. And a reflection is underway to generalize it at the national level ”, he specified to Figaro.
But the criminal trial cannot be, according to Ciase, the only answer to be given to the victims. In his report, President Jean-Marc Sauvé underlines the importance of so-called “restorative” justice for all victims deprived of a criminal response. The committee therefore invites the authorities to create a “systematic police investigation system followed by an interview of victims of sexual violence with a magistrate when the penal prescription has been acquired”. A means, according to Ciase, to “repair the damage to the being” of the victims.