French prosecutors open rape probe against former deputy mayor of Paris

French prosecutors said Tuesday they were opening a preliminary rape investigation into a former deputy mayor of Paris after a man accused him in a newspaper article of years of sexual abuse.

The probe against Christophe Girard will look at charges of alleged “rape by a person in a position of authority”, Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said in a statement.

The move came swiftly after the New York Times reported the allegations of Aniss Hmaid, now 46, that Girard had sexually abused him over nearly a decade after they met in Tunisia when he was 15.

Hmaid claimed Girard sexually abused him when he was 16, and then coerced him into sex on about 20 further occasions over several years.

The prosecutor’s statement said the investigation would aim to determine if the allegations “could be characterised as a crime” and also, given that the alleged events date back several decades, whether they can still be prosecuted.

Girard resigned as deputy to Mayor Anne Hidalgo in July afer opposition politicians and women’s groups demanded his suspension over ties to Gabriel Matzneff, an award-winning writer who has never hid his preference for sex with adolescent girls and boys.

After the prosecutor’s announcement, Girard said he would also step back from his remaining duties as a member of the Paris city council “for the duration of the preliminary enquiry and to better defend myself”.

His lawyer, Delphine Meillet, criticised Hmaid Tuesday for having gone to the media with his story rather than the authorities.

Now, she said, “the prosecutor feels obliged to open an investigation in the light of media pressure, which is particularly sensitive on these subjects…”

But Meillet insisted “there is no offence” and even if there had been, it was legally too late to prosecute now [ . . . ]

Continue at FRANCE24: French prosecutors open rape probe against former deputy mayor of Paris

Zaz writes on Twitter

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“After several months of introspection, of reflection on myself, on the world around me and the unprecedented situation we are all living in, I am slowly getting back on the path to creation.
Sweetness and kindness to all of you”

Après plusieurs mois d’introspection, de réflexion sur moi, sur le monde qui m’entoure et la situation inédite que nous vivons tous, je me remets doucement sur le chemin de la création.
Douceur et bienveillance à nous tous


			


	



			
				


			
				


			
				


	

		
At a workshop near Paris, migrants train to upcycle used designer clothes

			


	

		


In the Parisian suburb of Villejuif, a workshop run by the French NGO Renaissance trains unemployed people – including migrants – to create luxury fashion pieces from castoff clothes and linen. It’s a transformative experience as participants embark on a journey of acquiring professional integration skills in a sustainable, eco-friendly manner.


“My dream is to sew a dress for Zinedine Zidane’s wife,” reveals Ibrahima, a 32-year-old football fan and Guinean refugee who arrived in France just two years ago. Ibrahima may be new to France, but he already has a very precise goal: to make sewing his profession


It’s an objective shared by participants at a workshop run by Renaissance, a French NGO that promotes sustainable and eco-friendly recreations of luxury clothing.


The workshop is held in Villejuif, a southern suburb of Paris. Here, Ibrahima and his colleagues are in the process of reintegrating into the workforce. Some are long-term unemployed, others are young people without degrees and still others are asylum seekers or refugees.


Trained by Philippe Guilet – the founder and head of Renaissance who worked for leading fashion designers such as Jean-Paul Gaultier and Karl Lagerfeld – the team of around 10 women and men have been learning haute couture techniques since September. Continue reading “At a workshop near Paris, migrants train to upcycle used designer clothes” →