What responses does French justice provide to victims of incest? It is an obstacle course described in “Special Envoy” Tatiana, sexually assaulted by her stepfather since she was 7 years old, raped at 15, pregnant by her attacker at 18. The young woman nevertheless considers herself “lucky“: his stepfather was sentenced to twelve years’ imprisonment.
It was in adulthood, pushed by her husband, that Tatiana decided to push the doors of a police station. She talks about the courage it takes to file a complaint, the importance of reception, the words that can hurt – like, during the investigation, this judge who asks her “a fork” of the number of rapes suffered… while her attacker is “nearby” from her. Then the very long wait between the filing of a complaint in 2014 and the trial in 2019. “So we’re on hold, she remembers. We live to the rhythm of the acts of justice. As long as there is no trial, we are wandering. Complete.” Finally, the trial brings Tatiana some relief, thanks to “this magistrate who [lui] said three or four times: ‘I, Madame, I believe you'” – a word that has it “upset” to tears.
“There are more actions on road safety; on incest, there is nothing!”
It’s that “real support problem” what does the young woman want to denounce before the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (Ciivise), set up by the government in 2021. But she also expresses her fears of a kind of fashion effect: “I don’t want us all to be just ‘hashtag MeeToo’, ‘hashtag Incest’, and then in two years there won’t be any more hashtags.”
What Tatiana demands, who “think that the victims are worth more than ads”, Those are “concrete things”. As [des campagnes] “prevention and explanations on the right to one’s body, the right to one’s privacy, what one has the right to do or not to do… It is also the role of National Education to provide these benchmarks , in the same way as Road Safety, where there are still more actions. On incest, there is nothing!
Excerpt from “Incest: no longer be silent”, a report have in “Special Envoy” on September 22, 2022.
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