French pop icon Patrick Bruel has been charged with rape and sexual assault on Wednesday, following allegations from nearly two dozen women, some dating back to the 1990s. The 67-year-old singer and actor, a major figure in French popular culture, has denied any wrongdoing.
Charges and legal proceedings
A judge in the Paris suburb of Nanterre charged Bruel with rape, attempted rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. He spent 48 hours in custody after being held for questioning on Monday. The Nanterre prosecutor's office said the charges relate to nine victims and involve incidents between 2010 and 2019. Additionally, complaints from another 13 people accusing him of rape, attempted rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment from 1992 to 2008 have been added to the file, even if they appear to be beyond the statute of limitations at this stage.
Bruel was released under judicial supervision, his lawyer Fanny Colin said, after the judge rejected a request from prosecutors for him to be placed in pre-trial detention.
Denial and response
Bruel protested his innocence last month, stating in an Instagram post that he had "never forced a woman." He then announced the cancellation of all concerts until September. His lawyers said in a statement that he would answer all questions and "provide all the elements necessary to demonstrate his innocence."
Accusers and new allegations
Among his accusers is Daniela Elstner, the current director of Unifrance, a company promoting French cinema abroad. In March, she formally accused him of attempted rape during a film festival in Mexico in 1997, when she was a 26-year-old intern at Unifrance. "This is a real first legal victory for the victims," her lawyer Jade Dousselin told AFP after prosecutors demanded charges.
Several new allegations have emerged since Monday. Lawyer Myriam Guedj Benayoun said a new complaint would be filed for the alleged attempted rape of a 19-year-old at his home in 2000. Another lawyer, Corinne Herrmann, said two women filed rape complaints against him on May 27 and June 3. Investigative outlet Mediapart reported that one accuser is a former beauty queen who alleges rape in 2008, and the other is a physiotherapist who alleges rape in 2000.
French television presenter Flavie Flament accused Bruel of raping her in 1991 when she was a minor. She criticized the slow judicial system, saying, "Three weeks after my complaint was made public, Patrick Bruel is in police custody. What is truly outrageous is that before me, there were women who for months — for years — tried to make themselves heard, and it took the media coverage of my complaint for things to move forward."
Background
Bruel, a heartthrob whose face was on teen magazines in the early 1990s, is the latest top French celebrity to face investigators in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Film legend Gerard Depardieu was handed a suspended 18-month prison sentence last year for sexually assaulting two women on a film set. At the height of his popularity, a period dubbed "Bruelmania" in French pop culture, teenagers saw in the singer a masculine ideal, with enthralled fans gathering outside places he was thought to be in Paris. Bruel seemed to enjoy his image, saying on television in 2000, "I'm easy to seduce, but not easy to keep."
