The man, a midwife, is accused by former patients of 11 rapes and inappropriate gestures and words. In Montpellier, the 5 magistrates of the Criminal Court have three days to try a midwife whose actions began to be denounced in 2013.
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The trial should last a maximum of 3 days. In the accused box, a midwife, Lionel Charvin, is accused of 11 rapes and sexual assault by 12 of his former patients. Before or after their childbirth, this Montpellier has, according to the testimonies which overlap, authorized words and especially gestures very moved during the consultations.
Facing the accused, no popular jury but 5 professional magistrates. This is the principle of the new Criminal Court of Hérault. Tested until 2022 in now 24 departments, it is responsible for speeding up justice. It is seized for crimes punishable by 15 to 20 years of imprisonment. Mainly the rapes so far in the departments where these criminal courts have been set up.
Tried for 11 rapes
The exact charge is as follows: the accused was accused between 2013 and 2016 of digital penetrations constraints or surprises abusing the authority conferred by his functions of midwife (a midwife man) during preparations for childbirth or perinatal rehabilitation.
It took a long time to cross-check the testimonies of his victims. Especially since this midwife from Montpellier was acting under the cover of medical practice. And that it is not always easy, even for patients, to judge the respect for privacy when it comes to acts around maternity or gynecology. But the multiplication of testimonies and complaints, as well as the advice that the accused gives to a patient not to noise the session speak volumes.
Montpellier – one of the plaintiffs, Jennifer filed a rape complaint after giving birth in April 2016 – February 24, 2021.
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© F3 LR C.Plichart
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In the end, the man is accused of 11 rapes. And theorder of midwives is one of the complainants. The first facts denounced date back to 2013. And the testimonies are spread over 3 years. But the accused had already been the subject of a “reframing” before, in 2010, at the Clinique St-Roch where he officiated in addition to his private practice.
The report of this first day of trial that followed, for France 3 Languedoc-Roussillon, Cybèle Plichart and Delphine Aldebert.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrLfP5D_hi0
For his part, the midwife refutes any unhealthy intention constituting a criminal offense. The Criminal Court will have to decide. And it is magistrates who will do it.
5 magistrates in place of traditional jurors
It is not because the case is particularly delicate or would require an exceptional expertise of justice. If 5 magistrates are responsible this week for judging the midwife, it is quite simply because this new jurisdiction, the Criminal Court of Montpellier, is now seized of all crimes punishable by 15 to 20 years in prison. And in particular the rapes.
An experience that has been developing in France since Law of 23 March 2019 which provides for a 3-year trial of these new bodies.
First tested in 9 departments, these criminal courts quickly developed with the stated objective of faster justice. Against the backdrop of a strike by lawyers and then Coronavirus, the experiment has now been extended to 24 departments. In Occitania, the Criminal Court of Hérault has been operating since last September and that of Haute-Garonne to Toulouse rendered its first judgment in January 2021.
