In 2014, Emily Spanton, a Canadian tourist, accused BRI police officers of raping her. Convicted at first instance, they were finally acquitted on appeal. In a gripping documentary, the director shows how the first trial, in 2019, was first and foremost about the young woman’s morals.
The case had made headlines: in 2014, two police officers from the prestigious Brigade de recherche et d’intervention (BRI) were accused by a Canadian tourist of raping her on the premises of 36, quai des Orfèvres, the former headquarters of the judicial police, in Paris. In 2019, after an extraordinary trial, the elite police officers were sentenced to seven years in prison. They appealed against the verdict. On April 22, they were acquitted by the Val-de-Marne Assize Court.
In Le Procès du 36, a remarkable documentary (replay here), director Ovidie looks back at the investigation and hearings in January 2019. The plaintiff’s credibility is called into question, her word is denied, her personality and lifestyle are stigmatized… A look back at a first trial tainted by rape culture and archaic sexism.
“A single woman who frequents a bar, allows herself to be hit on by guys and agrees to follow them… How would any of this mean she deserved what happened to her?”
