The new director, Aude Hesbert, had announced that the trumpeter was no longer part of the jury due to “discomfort within the team”.
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The resigning minister responsible for gender equality, Aurore Bergé, warned on Wednesday August 28 against “the stigma of suspicion“after the decision of the Deauville American Film Festival to exclude Ibrahim Maalouf, acquitted in 2020 in a case of sexual assault on a minor.
The festival’s new director, Aude Hesbert, announced this weekend that the trumpeter was no longer part of the jury due to a “unease in the team” in connection with the #MeToo wave.
Ibrahim Maalouf “was acquitted. If we consider that years after an acquittal, we continue to have the stigma of suspicion, in truth there is no longer any justice worth anything in our country“, said Aurore Bergé on TF1 on Wednesday.”This is a sovereign decision on the part of the festival.“, however, stressed Aurore Bergé.
“I have always maintained a consistent line (…) obviously we must respect and accept the victims’ words and never assume that the victims are lying.” And “Judicial time must be respected” she added.
Ibrahim Maalouf had been accused several years ago of sexual assault on a minor, a case in which he was acquitted in 2020. In a message sent to AFP on Saturday August 24, the trumpeter’s lawyer considered that the festival sacrificed “an innocent on the altar of the supreme principle ‘the show must go on’ for mercantile interests“.
