Georges Tron will stay in prison. The rejection of the cassation appeal, Wednesday, December 8, of the former Secretary of State made his conviction for rape and sexual assault final. This is the ten-year conclusion of a case that has become emblematic of the questions surrounding sexual consent.
In its judgment consulted by AFP, the Court of Cassation considered that the Paris Assize Court of Appeal had indeed “characterized” the different elements “constituting the offenses for which she found the accused guilty” last February, which was disputed Georges Tron. Incarcerated since the verdict at the Health prison in Paris, the former mayor of Draveil (Essonne), now 64 years old, must serve a five-year prison sentence, two of which are suspended.
At the end of a procedure with twists and turns, Georges Tron and his ex-cultural assistant in Draveil, Brigitte Gruel, were found guilty of having imposed touching and digital penetrations in November 2009 and January 2010 on a municipal employee, Virginia Ettel, under the guise of foot reflexology sessions.
Brigitte Gruel was also sentenced to two years in prison. The court also imposed a six-year ineligibility sentence on Georges Tron. The Assize Court on the other hand acquitted them of similar facts on the second plaintiff, Eva Loubrieu, arguing “imprecise statements” and “variable over time” of the person concerned.
After four weeks of hearing and eleven hours of deliberation, the Assize Court considered that the city council had exercised on Virginie Ettel a “moral constraint” characteristic of a “lack of consent”, because of his personality and his hierarchical superiority. “Very disappointed”, “protesting his innocence”, Georges Tron will now focus on the adjustment of his prison sentence, announced his counsel, Me Bertrand Périer, after the judgment of the Court of Cassation.