(Paris) The defense of Swiss Islamologist Tariq Ramadan will appeal against the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal to refer him for trial before French justice for the rapes of three women, one of his lawyers at AFP.
Mr. Ramadan has hired half a dozen lawyers for his defense in the French aspect of the accusations of sexual violence against him.
On Thursday, his lawyer Me Pascal Garbarini had made his decision on an appeal conditional, while waiting to consult his client. Another lawyer for Mr. Ramadan, Me Ouadie Elhamamouchi, had firmly announced that an appeal would be filed.
The investigating chamber of the Court of Appeal decided on Thursday to refer Mr. Ramadan, 61, to the Paris Criminal Court for rapes of three women, committed between 2009 and 2016. The judges, however, dismissed the case of a fourth woman, who reported nine rapes, in France and abroad, between 2013 and 2014.
Me Garbarini assured at the end of the deliberations that “the fight continues for the innocence” of his client.
The lawyer, who had requested the dismissal of the case, “continues to think that there are no elements both materially and in terms of control” against his client.
My Laure Heinich and Laura Ben Kemoun, lawyers for the complainant who was dismissed, also indicated that they were considering an appeal against this decision, the detailed reasoning for which was not yet known on Friday.
In this highly publicized and emblematic procedure of the era
Mr. Ramadan had first contested any sexual act with his accusers, before recognizing extramarital sexual relations “of domination”, rough, but “consensual”.
In Switzerland, the preacher obtained an acquittal in May 2023 in a case of rape and sexual coercion dating back to 2008.
The appeal trial was held at the end of May in Geneva. The prosecutor requested three years in prison, half of which was closed, and mentioned the notion of “control” exercised by Tariq Ramadan, compared to a “Stockholm syndrome” in the complainant.
The decision was put under advisement “within several weeks”.