Gabriel Matzneff again accused of rape: the chilling testimony of the complainant

A woman accuses the writer Gabriel Matzneff of having raped her when she was than a child. His testimony led to the opening of an investigation into "rape of a minor under 15 years old". What facts is she denouncing?

Gabriel Matzneff targeted by new accusations of rape. These accusations revealed this Thursday, November 23 by RMCled to the opening of a preliminary investigation into “rape of a minor under the age of 15” by the Paris public prosecutor's office on October 23. She is a woman in her fifties, adopted daughter of a close friend of the writer who claims to have been victim of rape and sexual assault between 1977 and 1987. According to her timeline, the events occurred when she was between 4 and 13 years old.

The facts denounced are now time-barred, but the accuser will be heard “in order to be able to specify the alleged facts” indicated the Paris public prosecutor's office with RMC: "The investigations will relate both to their characterization and qualification and to the limitation periods with regard to their seniority". The complainant says she found the courage to testify after the release of the film Le Consent, adapted from the book of the same name, which relates the relationship under influence that Vanessa Springora had with the writer when she was 14 years old . These facts had led to; the opening of the first investigation into rape of a minor targeting Gabriel Matzneff, in 2020.

A father "accomplice" by Gabriel Matzneff

The woman who accuses Gabriel Matzneff of rape wanted to know remain anonymous, but detailed his accusations in a letter addressed to at the Paris prosecutor's office on October 10. In this letter, consulted by RMC and the AFP, the complainant denounces rapes and assaults which would have been committed by the police. committed in "socially influential circles, within which some of their members shared a certain idea of ​​pedophilia, or even shared a certain practice of it". The alleged acts took place in part at the family home according to the testimony of the fifty-year-old. His lawyer Rodolphe Costantino also believes that “we can speak of complicity” family".

The complainant's father allegedly played a certain role during these attacks according to the lawyers of the author of the letter. The latter says she found “concealed” documents; in his father's personal affairs after the man was killed. admitted to a nursing home in 2020, including correspondence with Gabriel Matzneff. But above all, she claims to have recorded "a dialogue with his adoptive father" before he died. And during the discussion, the man would"[testify] and [confess] facts of which he and some of his friends, including Gabriel Matzneff, have been the authors" after having made "an apology for these facts", according to the letter sent to to the prosecution.

Victim and witness of sexual violence

The complainant who accuses Gabriel Matzneff of rape also claims to have been accused of rape. the witness of sexual violence committed against other victims. She would be "an eyewitness to sexual abuse, rape, committed by Gabriel Matzneff and others on three children, also adopted, by families from the same environment" according to the details of his lawyer Me Costantino at AFP. According to him, some of these facts have not yet been prescribed. The accuser's testimony could therefore lead other potential victims to become victims. denounce sexual violence.