The “36 quai des Orfèvres” affair is not yet over. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will examine the application lodged by Emily Spanton, the Canadian tourist who accused two police officers from a prestigious Parisian police force of rape.
The ECHR will must answer to the following question: with regard to European Convention of human rights, has France lived up to its commitments “obligations to adopt and effectively enforce criminal law provisions to criminalize and punish all non-consensual sexual acts”. ?
Emily Spanton believes that the French authorities have not ensured “effective repression of these crimes without secondary victimization”. In her view, the Court of Appeal’s verdict of acquittal was “unsatisfactorily” reasoned and produced a “secondary victimization”. A verdict against which she had no right of appeal.
“There will never be a new trial. On the other hand, we’re aiming for compensation for Emily Spanton and for France to be condemned,” says her lawyer, Sophie Obadia, who, along withMe Paul Mathonnet, filed the petition with the ECHR in August 2022. The criminal lawyer is delighted to have passed “this first stage” : “It’s a very good signal.
The plaintiff can use her “secondary victimization” to get France convicted. In concrete terms, the aim is to determine whether the authorities have behaved correctly, irrespective of the respondent’s guilt.
For Emily Spanton’s lawyer, this concept of “secondary victimization” is “totally accessible” in her client’s case, given the “unprecedented and inadmissible” way in which she was allegedly treated.
In a case of sexual violence, I’ve never seen the intimate life of a victim worked on to such an extent, or his or her word questioned to such an extent,” says Sophie Obadia. The investigation was provided, but essentially on the victim’s environment, her living habits, why she wasn’t liked in Canada, why she changed jobs, etc.”
The lawyer hopes that “the ECHR will say that this way of approaching the victim is inadmissible” and that the Court will question the motivation adopted by the French justice system “. while Emily Spanton was in a state of advanced intoxication”. “In other countries, the vulnerability observed and measured is a huge index.”
