This is a first since the beginning of the Patrick Poivre d’Arvor affair. Twenty women, eighteen of whom testify with their faces uncovered, decided to speak on Tuesday, May 10, on the set of Mediapart’s “A l’air libre” program. They had never been reunited before.
“All of us here went to tell our stories to justice. She ‘classified us without follow-up’. What we come to tell you is what justice knows, what it does, and the violence it is to testify”explained on the set Hélène Devynck, who accuses the journalist of rape. “It seemed important to me to come. Today we are forming a group, we want to show that we are united, we are united, we are facing up: Patrick Poivre d’Arvor no longer scares us”added Florence Porcel, whose complaint broke the case.
“It seemed important to me to come, today we are forming a group, we want to show that we are united, we are united, we are facing up, Patrick Poivre d’Arvor no longer scares us”
Florence Porcel, Authorhttps://t.co/tAb6aJreoS#PPDAMediapart pic.twitter.com/3ye6DhJ64t
— Mediapart (@Mediapart) May 10, 2022
The online newspaper recalls that “Imost of them did not know each other before the start of the affair” and “the alleged facts they tell date back to the 1980s or a few years ago”. The presenter, Valentine Oberti, explains to HuffPost that “vshe idea of this program was sparked by the announcement of the complaint for slanderous denunciation by Patrick Poivre d’Arvor against 16 women, which occurred at the time of the broadcast of France’s ‘Complément d’Enquête’ 2″.
“I want to tell them that their suffering cannot leave anyone indifferent and in particular me, neither as a man nor as a former leader.reacted the former boss of TF1 Nonce Paolini as part of this program. I hope they can get the chance to have their case reviewed by the courts.”
At the material time, “Obviously we didn’t know. If we had known, we would have made the necessary arrangements and me first”adds the former leader, who is speaking for the first time since the launch of the case in February 2021. If this had been known, “sanctions would have been taken”he says. “We could not question the reputation of a company like that, listed on the stock exchange, listed on the CAC 40. It was an inconsiderate risk”he said.
“There is no system, there is just someone who has behaved obnoxiously with women in different contexts without anyone knowing it since these women were not speaking out.”
Nuncio Paoliniat Mediapart
The PPDA affair broke out in February 2021 when the writer and journalist Florence Porcel filed a complaint, accusing him of having forced him to have sex in 2004 and fellatio in 2009. A preliminary investigation had been carried out for four months by the Nanterre prosecutor’s office and 23 women had testified. The majority of the facts denounced being prescribed, the investigation had been closed without further action in June. The PPDA complaint against Florence Porcel, for slanderous denunciation, had also been dismissed.