The Nanterre prosecution recently requested the referral to the criminal court of the president of the National Cinema Center (CNC), Dominique Boutonnat, accused of having sexually assaulted his godson who was 21 years old at the time of the events. Mr. Boutonnat “firmly disputes all the facts”, his lawyer Emmanuel Marsigny told AFP, indicating that his client was going to file a complaint for “slanderous denunciation” and “denunciation of imaginary crimes”. In October 2020, a complaint had been filed by the godson, now 23, for facts dating from August 2020 during a vacation in Greece. In this complaint consulted by AFP, the godson accuses his godfather, with whom he has no family ties, of having tried to “masturbate” him on the night of August 3, 2020, after he bathed naked in the pool. “I masturbate him so that he stops touching me”, he denounces, assuring that his godfather then tries to impose oral sex on him. The president of the CNC indicted for sexual assault and attempted rape After his police custody in February 2021, Dominique Boutonnat had been indicted for attempted rape and sexual assault. During the investigations, the investigators were particularly interested in the telephone conversations between the two men, after this night of August 3, 2020, according to a source close to the file. These exchanges revealed different versions of the scene. The prosecution finally considered that these conversations supported the version described by the young man more than that of Mr. Boutonnat, according to the same source. sexual assault, according to the final indictment signed on March 31, according to a source familiar with the matter. The prosecution justifies the dismissal for sexual assault by the surprise that may have been felt by the young man, “due to his state of intoxication and the suddenness of the behavior” of Mr. Boutonnat, according to another source close to the file The prosecution dismissed the charge of attempted rape, because it felt it could not establish that Mr. Boutonnat “had the intention to carry out sexual penetration”, according to this source. It is now up to the investigating judge to decide on the possible holding of a trial. If she decides on a trial, she will also have to decide on the charge, an attempted rape leading to the assizes. of the charges “obviously emerges from the contradictions of the civil party and the conversation” between the complainant and Mr. Boutonnat, and even more from an “audio seal not exploited” by the justice system. Dominique Boutonnat, 52, placed under judicial review since February 2021, was appointed Chairman of the CNC on July 24, 2019, after a long career in the financing of film and audiovisual creation. Hearings of members of the young man’s family described a “very strong” relationship between Mr. Boutonnat and his godson, the boss of the CNC being presented “as the father’s relay when the victim had come out”, even a “second father” in whom the victim had “absolute confidence”. Boutonnat explained to the investigators that he had exchanged kisses with his godson as a sign of affection, but without sexual connotation. Solicited, the plaintiff’s lawyer could not be reached. A psychological expert noted “an anxiety disorder” and “post-traumatic symptoms” in his client.
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